Beauty And The Beast
by houseofanubislover10897
Summary: Princess Bella makes her first proclamation one month before her coronation, to give the children of the Isle Of The Lost a chance to live in Auradon. And she immediately gets drawn to Mal, son of Maleficent and soon to be king of the isle. Can she break through his cold exterior and warm his heart?
1. Introductions

**Mal's POV**

The first thing I see when I step out of the limo is a beautiful girl with a light tan, shoulder length golden brown hair, sparkling green eyes, and a warm smile looking at me excitedly. She's wearing a knee length royal blue dress and brown sandles. The other girl beside her is wearing a pink dress and a light blue unbuttoned sweater, with sandles. She's donning an obviously fake smile and looks like she'd rather be anywhere else. The sweet looking girl that has me starstruck begins to approach me and I snap out of my thoughts to focus on her. I faintly hear Jay and Carlos bickering over something but don't take my eyes off of her.

"Hi" she says shyly, holding her hand out towards me. I notice her looking me up and down, taking in my appearance. I have grey eyes, pale skin, and my black hair can change color. Right now my bangs are jelled up and are a faded dark purple color, black at the roots and fading into a deep purple color that is brighter at the ends. I am wearing my normal outfit consisting of a purple T-shirt, a black leather jacket, dark blue jeans, and my combat boots.

"Hi" I say with a soft smile, shaking her hand. Something about her is drawing me in, and looking into her eyes I already know it's going to be hard going through with my mother's plan, this girl is awakening something in me that I never knew I had.

"I'm Bella" she continues before slowly releasing my hand, my inner dragon already whining at the loss but I shush him. I'm not gonna let one girl turn me into a _complete_ mush ball.

"Malakai, but you can call me Mal" I say calmly, snapping out of my moment of weakness.

 _'Snap out of it Mal! Remember, Long Live Evil!'_ I scold myself.

"Guys we have an audience" I say sternly, turning to look back at my two guy friends who are wrestling on the ground over some scarf. They snap out of it and immediately get up, tossing all of the stuff they took back into the limo after seeing my glare. as I turn back around to face the crowd around us Evie comes to stand next to me and gives me a bright smile and a thumbs up. I smile back at her and wrap my arm around her shoulders playfully. She's my best friend and she knows how hard I've been trying to be a good leader since my mom announced I will become king of the isle last month.

"Sorry Mal" the boys apologize as they come to stand on my other side. I see the light in Bella's eyes disappear when I embrace Evie and she clears her throat.

"This is a momentus occasion, the day our two peoples begin to heal" she begins to announce.

"Or the day you show four peoples where the bathrooms are" I say with a playful smirk and Bella laughs. I wince when Evie jabs me in the side with her elbow at my remark and I remove my arm from her shoulders in favor of rubbing my side.

"Little bit over the top?" she asks with a small smile.

"Little more than a little bit" I reply with a matching smile and the other girl next to Bella scoffs.

"Enough of the formalities Bella, these hooligans aren't worth our time" she huffs.

"Audrey!" Bella hisses, elbowing her in the side.

"Hello foxy, the name's Jay" Jay says smoothly, and Evie and I both faceplalm at his stupidity.

"And I'm not interested" Audrey says bluntly, and I let out a warning growl. Her eyes widen and she backs off.

"I'm really sorry about that guys, this is Audrey-" Bella begins to say before getting cut off.

"Princess Audrey" Audrey interrups, and if I wasn't a guy I'd smack her for interrupting. We've only been in Auradon for 5 minutes and I already hate her.

"Daughter of Sleeping-" the brat begins to continue.

"Beauty.. yeah I've heard the name. My mother talks about your parents _a lot_ " I hiss at the end.

"And who might you be?!" Audrey demands, obviously she hadn't been paying attention when I introduced myself to her future queen.

"Malakai, son of _Maleficent_ and future king of the isle of the lost" I say hardly, and she flinches away from me as if I had slapped her.

 _'Good, she's learning her place'_ I think to myself smugly.

"You're the heir for the throne on the isle?" Bella asks me amazed, unfazed by the harsh tone I'd just used on her friend.

"Yeah" I say with a proud smile and she grins back excitedly.

"Cool! I have so many questions for you" she says excitedly as she loops her arm through mine and begins pulling me along as she lists off several questions. I hear Audrey gasp and my friends laugh as they all follow behind us while I answer the excited princess's questions as best as I can while feeling awkward.

"looks like somebody has a crush on our dark prince" I hear Evie giggle quietly to Jay and Carlos, and I feel my cheeks heat up slightly.

"What's your favorite color? What's your home like? What do you guys-" I cut off her rambling by lightly putting my free pointer finger over her lips. She stops walking immediately and looks up at me bashfully.

"As much as I'd love to run around with you playing twenty questions, I think we should be shown our dorms first" I say with a small laugh, removing my finger.

"Oh right...I mean of course! Follow me" Bella says as she continues leading us into the building, her arm still looped through mine. She shows Evie her dorm and I chuckle when Evie lets out an excited squeal after she closes the door behind her. We walk down to the boys dormitory and she lets go of my arm so I can open the door.

"Woah" Jay and Carlos say on either side of me as we walk into the room.

"Well we'll let you guys settle in, let me know if you need anything and welcome to Auradon!" Bella says with a smile before pulling a sulking Audrey out of the room and closes the door to give us privacy.

"What are you doing?" I ask Jay as he begins taking stuff out of his pockets and dumping them on one of the beds.

"Uh it's called stealing, it's like gettimg whatever I want only for free" Jay answers with a smirk as he continues unpacking his loot.

"Okay, so you could either do that now or just do that later when our parents are running this place" I point out and Jay laughs.

"You sound just like your mom" Carlos says.

"Thank you" I say, but somewhere in the back of my mind I'm wondering why that doesn't sound as right as it used to.

 **A Few Hours Later**

 **Bella's POV**

"So what are the isle kids like?" Lonnie asks me excitedly as I sit down with her and Audrey for lunch in the cafeteria.

"Really cool, they seem pretty nice" I say eagerly, glad someone else is taking an interest in them too.

"Oh please! They're all hooligans and I wish you never brought them here, especially that Mal guy" Audrey complains, frowning at me.

"Mal was pretty good actually, he was nice to me" I say to Lonnie, fighting back the urge to roll my eyes at Audrey. And it's true, Mal was very civil until Audrey started interrupting, I think he just got annoyed with her attitude.

"That slimeball is the soon to be king of the isle of the lost!" Audrey snaps.

"All the more reason to get to know him!" I snap back. Hopefully he and I can talk about things I could do to help fix things on the isle, and I really hope we become friends.

"Whatever" Audrey huffs and Lonnie looks between the two of us before asking me more questions about Mal and the others.

"Hey babe" a familiar voice says from behind me and I smile as I turn to look up at my boyfriend.

"Hi Chad" I say happily before he leans in and gives me a long sloppy kiss.

"What's happening ladies?" he asks as he sits in the empty seat between me and Audrey. He wraps his arm around me loosely and I can't help feeling dissapointment as he starts talking to Audrey before Lonnie and I could answer.

"Well we were just talking about the isle kids" Lonnie says to Chad, sensing my change in mood. Almost as if they had been summoned, the topic of our conversation enters the room and get into the lunch line. Mal makes sure he is behind the other three and for a moment our eyes lock from across the room. I smile and wave at him eagerly, and he gives me a slight smile before turning away from me and saying something to Evie. Chad's arm tightens around me and I turn to see him frowning at me.

"I want you to stay away from that guy, something about him doesn't seem right" he says possessively and I scoff.

"I will do no such thing, I am the one that invited them here and I will hang out with whoever I please" I say defiantly, shaking his arm off of ny shoulders.

"Whatever" he scoffs before continuing his coversation with Audrey. I focus back on my salad and out of the corner of my eye I see Lonnie give me a big smile and mouth _'Good job'_ to me.

 _'Thanks'_ I mouth back, feeling pleased with myself.

 **Mal's POV**

"Bella is looking at you" Evie whispers to me as the four of us sit at an empty table.

"So?" I ask her as I begin picking at one one of the triangle things that the lunch ladies had called pizza on my tray.

"So you should go talk to her" she says, lightly pushing at my shoulder.

"And deal with that prissy pink princess she hangs out with? I'll pass" I scoff before taking a bite out of the slice, nearly moaning at the taste.

"She seems to like you" Evie continues to probe.

"Really? Well it seems to me she has a boyfriend" I say say sarcastically, looking over at Bella's table again.

"For a guy that's supposed to be her boyfriend he sure is doing a good job at ingnoring her" Evie notes. Well she's not wrong there, the blonde guy that's next to her seems more interested in talking to Audrey. And I can't help frowning as I notice that Bella has a small sad look on her face.

"I'm sure she could really use a friend right now" Evie pushes and I groan.

"Alright! Alright geez if it'll get you off my back I'll go sit with her" I say exasperatedly, beginning to get up. Evie smiles up at me triumphantly as I lean down to grab my tray and I roll my eyes at her before standing up straight and begin making my way across the room. The entire luch room goes silent as I make my way to the empty seat between Bella and a Chinease looking girl.

"Excuse me, can I sit here?" I ask the two of them politely and they both smile up at me.

"Actually-" the blonde guy begins to protest.

"We'd love it if you'd sit with us" the Chinease girl says with a smile, silencing the guy with a glare. I smile down at her as I put down my tray and carefully sit down.

"I'm Lonnie" the girl says, holding out her hand.

"Mal" I say politely, shaking her hand. I look over at Bella and see her looking at me excitedly.

"So where were we? I think your last few questions had something to do with my favorite color and what my home is like" I say with a small smile, remembering how she kept rambling earlier.

"Oh yeah! I was also wondering what you guys like to do for fun!" she says excitedly, and I nearly burst out laughing as she pulls out a small notebook and a pen.

"Would you like to take notes too? I feel like we're gonna be here for a while" I say to Lonnie as Bella starts rambling out even more questions. She laughs and shakes her head at me, I smile back at her before we focus back on the excited princess.


	2. Second Thoughts

**Late That Night**

 **Mal's POV**

We're finally inside of the museum gettimg ready to steal the wand.

"That's your mother's spinning wheel?" Jay laughs quietly as we poke our heads out to peak in the windown slightly, observing the guard.

"Yeah no offense Mal but it's kinda dorky" Carlos agrees.

"It's magic, it doesn't have to look scary" I defend, even though I can't help somwhat agree with them.

"Prick thy finger, prick it deep, send thy victim off to sleep" I chant, ignoring the boys jokes about the spinning wheel. We watch as tthe guard stands up and slowly moves towards the spinning wheel. He pricks his finger and slowly falls asleep laying on the pedistal.

"Now that's how you do it" I say smugly. Evie tries to open the door, but it's locked.

"Stand back" Jay says smoothly before taking several steps back. I smirk as another spell pops into my head.

"Make it easy, make it quick, make it open without a kick" I say as Jay launches himself at the door, foot extended to kick it open. The door swings open just before his foot can make contact with it and he lands with a thump. Evie and I let out a few laughs as Carlos helps Jay up and we follow Evie's directions to the wand. We freeze when we enter a room full of statues, our parents statues.

"Mommy" I hear Evie say quietly.

"Killer" Jay says afterwards.

"I'll never forget mother's day again" Carlos says, and I feel a bit of regret when I hear the fear in his voice.

"Well the wand isn't here, let's go" Evie orders gently, and I hear three sets of footsteps exit the room. I don't take my eyes off of my mother's statue, I can't. I feel several conflicting emotions wash over me as I stare at it. I can't help thinking back to Bella's brilliant green eyes staring into mine, filled with so much hope and trust as she spoke to me. Can I possibly destroy that for her? Break her trust and shatter all her hope? But what would happen to me if I didn't go through with this plan? Would I live happily ever after here in Auradon? Possibly with Bella? Or would my mother find her own way off of the isle and take her revenge on me, hurt those closest to me before killing me.

"Mal C'mon" I faintly hear Evie call out, but I can't help moving towards my mother's look alike.

"Look at you look at me, I don't know who to be mother" I sing softly.

"Is it wrong, is it right? Be a thief in the night mother, tell me what to do" I continue to sing. My mother's statue suddenly comes to life and laughs at my shocked expression.

"Don't be so serious darling" she laughs.

"I'm sorry" she manages to get out after calming down.

"I was once like you my child, slightly insecure" she sings and I look up at her nervously.

"Argued with my mother too, thought I was mature. But I put my heart aside and I used my head, now I think it's time you learned what dear old momma said" she begins to sing louder, moving towards me.

"Don't you wanna be evil like me? Don't you wanna be mean? Don't you wanna make mischief your daily routine?" she sings out, beginning to dance around me.

"Well you can spend your life attending to the poor but when you're evil doing less is doing more" she continues, putting her hand on my shoulder.

"Don't you wanna be ruthless and rotten and mad? Don't you wanna be very, very good at being bad?" at this line she moves away from me and twirls her staff around. And it takes everything in me to not flinch from the gesture, remembering all the times I'd been whacked with that staff when I was a child.

"I have tried my whole life long to do the worst I can, clawed my way to victory, built my master plan" she sings with a familiar smirk on her face, the one I inherited from her.

"Now the time has come my dear for you to take your place, promise me you will try to be an absolute disgrace" she sings pointedly with a creepy smile, resting her arm on my shoulder.

"Don't you wanna be evil like me? Don't you wanna be cruel? Don't you wanna be nasty and brutal and cool?" she continues on.

"And when you grab that wand that's when your reign begins, who wants an evil king without a sack of sins?" she sings proudly, and for a moment I can't help imagining myself as ruler of the isle.

"Don't you wanna be heartless and hardin' as stone? Don't you wanna be finger licking' evil to the bone?" she continues, unaware of my inner termoil.

"This is not for us to ponder, this was preordained. You and I shall rule together, freedom soon regain" she sings, and green lightning strikes, nearly making me jump.

"Masters of the universe, powerful and strong, son, hear me, help me, join me, won't you sing along?" she sings, gesturing to me.

 _'Sorry Bella'_ I think to myself as I mentally shake her out of my thoughts.

"Now we're gonna be evil, it's true, never gonna think twice" we sing together, holding on to her staff.

"And we're gonna be spiteful" I sing, tugging on my half of her staff.

"Yes, spiteful. That's nice" my mother agrees with a smile and a point in my direction.

"In just an hour or two our futures safe and sure, this mother, son act is going out on tour" she continues to sing, pullimg her staff out of my grasp and moving towards the pedistal. She begins floating up to the ceiling as she continues to sing.

"If you wanna be evil and awful and free then you should thank your lucky star that you were born the boy you are, the son of an evilicious queen like me!" she sings loudly before letting out an evil cackle, more green lightning striking around her.

"Hey I found the wand let's go" Evie calls out, earning my attention. She waves me forward before turning and exiting the room again. I take one last look at my mother's statue before following Evie down the hall where Jay and Carlos are waiting.

"Let's do this" Jay says, moving to grab the wand where it's floating, surrounded by. bright light.

"No Jay don't-" I start to say, but it's too late. He reaches in and an alarm suddenly goes off, red lights flashing through the building. We quickly run all the way down the stairs and I faintly hear Carlos at the service desk talking to someone on the phone, then the alarm turns off and the lights stop flashing.

"Nice work Carlos" I compliment as I hold the door open for the others before exiting myself.

"Great job Jay now we have to go to school tomorrow" I huff as we run away from the building.

 **The Next Morning**

 **Mal's POV**

"Hey guys!" Bella says with a smile as she moves towards us. We each give her our own greeting as she hands all of us a peice of paper.

"These are your schedules and I managed to get Fairy Godmother to get you in a few classes where you have one or more of your group in the same class" she explains after seeing my questioning look, and I nod in understanding.

"Thanks Bella, that was really nice of you" I say with a small smile. Even though I could never be with her romantically I'd still like to be her friend for the short time I'll be here before my mother takes control. Maybe I could even talk to my mother about sparing Bella so she could be my servent or something. I feel my heart crack at tbe thought of Bella in shacklesand looking at me with a broken expression.

"Are you ok Mal?" Bella asks me, snapping me out of my thoughts.

"Yeah, yeah I guess I'm just really tired, I didn't get much sleep last night" I say, letting out a yawn.

"Oh why not?" she asks curiously, and the others look at me from over her shoulders with panic in their eyes.

"First night in a new envirement ya know" I explain with a shrug, which is true. I didn't get much sleep after we made it back to the school without getting caught, not used to being on a soft bed in a warm room. Bella nods in understanding and pats my shoulder.

"Anyways we should probably get going, wouldn't want to be late to...remedial goodness class?" I say after looking at my schedual, the one class we all have together.

"Let me guess, new class?" I ask with a smirk and she nods slightly.

"Alright then, let's go guys" I call out to my friends as I start moving down the hall, remembering walking past that classroom when Fairy Godmother gave us a tour of the school after we got settled into our dorms.

 **A Little Later**

"When someone hands you a crying baby do you A) Curse it B) Lock it in a tower C) Give it a bottle or D) Carve out it's heart?" Fairy Godmother asks us from the front of the room, standing in front of a chalk board and pointing at the different choices with her pointer as she says them. I groan internally, ever since she introduced herself to us when we got in here we've been going over these type of questions.

 _'Hades help me'_ I internally curse. Evie raises her hand and Fairy Godmother smiles at her encouragingly.

"What was the second one?" Evie asks innocently with a smile and I can't help letting a small genuin smile creep on to my face as I continue drawing the wand.

 _'Oh Evie'_ I think to myself amusedly, patting her on the shoulder.

"Um ok..anyone else?" Fairy Godmother asks looking a bit disturbed, waving her pointer back and forth from all of us.

"Mal?" she calls softly and I immediately look up.

"C) Give it a bottle" I answer automatically.

"Correct, again" Fairy Godmother says with a big smile.

"You are on fire man!" Carlos says.

"Just pick the one that doesn't look like any fun" I say with a shrug.

"That makes so much sense" Evie says, and I hear the boys say something similar.

"Oh hello dear one! Come in" Fairy godmother says as the classroom door opens. I turn around to see a small very shy girl slowly walking into the room. I hide my cring at her plain haircut and boring dress.

"Hi mom" she says shyly, moving farther into the room.

 _'Fairy Godmother has a daughter?'_ I think to myself surprised. I notice Carlos looking at her awestruck and carefully nudge Evie, nodding in Carlos's direction. Her eyes light up and I'm sure she's already planning on how to get them together.

"Hello Jane, how are you dear?" Fairy Godmother asks soothingly as we turn back to the front of the room.

"I-I'm alright, I just came to get those papers for the potions class" she says nervously as she moves past our desks.

"Oh yes! Here you go" she says as she gives Jane a small stack of papers.

"Thank you" she says, turning to leave the room but freezes when she sees we're all looking at her curiously.

"Um don't mind me.. as you were" she says shyly as she quickly exits. The bell rings right after the door closes behind her, signaling the end of class. Hopefully with Carlos having a potential love interest Evie will turn her focus away from me and Bella.

"And don't even think that just because I'm going to get Carlos a girlfriend that I won't try setting you and Bella up" Evie whispers to me knowingly as we pack up our stuff.

 _'Damn it'_ I internally curse as we leave the room. I now have free period so I head to my locker while the others go to their classes.

"Hi" I hear a familiar voice say as I put my books in my locker. I turn my head to the left and see Bella smiling up at me.

"Hey" I say with a small smile before grabbing my sketchbook and a few drawing pens and pencils.

"You draw?" she asks with a smile while I put the pens and pencils in my jacket pocket.

"Yeah" I say softly, closing my locker. I gesture for her to follow me as I turn around and begin walking towards the staircase. She follows me obediently and we walk down the stairs. I freeze when we turn the corner to go on to the grounds and I feel Bella bump into my back from the sudden stop.

"Mal what's-" she starts to ask as she moves to stand beside me and sees what stopped me in my trackes. There in the dark corner behind the stairs is Bella's boyfriend making out with Audrey, her best friend.


	3. The Story Of Maleficent

**Bella's POV**

I feel tears prick my eyes as I watch my boyfriend grope and kiss the hell out of who I thought was my best friend.

"You son of a bitch!" Mal roars, grabbing the collar of Chad's shirt and yanking him away from Audrey. That's when Audrey notices me and stares at me in shock.

"Bella-" she starts to say before we're cut off by the sound of something hitting the wall. We look and see Mal holding Chad against the wall and Chad's eye is red, Mal must have punched him. Mal looks over his shoulder to look at me and I see worry and rage swimming around in his eyes. I let out a sob as Chad kissing my best friend replays in my head and run away, ignoring Mal's calls for me to come back. I continue running, and I don't stop until I'm curled up in a ball under the bleachers by the tourney field. I cry into my knees for a few minutes before I hear someone move in front of me. I lift my head up slightly to see Mal on his knees looking at me in worry. Before I can even think of restraining myself I launch myself into him and cry into his chest.

 **Mal's POV**

I freeze as Bella wraps her arms around my stomach and cries into my chest. After a moment I get over my shock and wrap my arms around her, melting into her embrace as she sobs into my jacket. She looks up at me and I feel my heart crack at the sight of tears pooling in her beautiful green eyes.

"I-I know Chad didn't love me..but I thought he at least cared about me enough t-to not" she cuts herself off with a loud sob and I instinctively pull her closer, and she buries her face into my shoulder as I place her on to my lap.

 _'We should kill that idiot and hide the body, he hurt our mate'_ my inner dragon growls, not liking the fact that his mate is crying.

 _'Shut up, she's not our mate'_ I internally hiss at him, and my inner dragon growls in response.

 _''She is! You'll see'_ is all he says before quieting down again. I mentally shake my head and focus on the crying girl in my arms.

"Shhh it's gonna be alright, I'm here" I whisper into her ear soothingly. She shakes against me and I just keep my right arm around her waist while I rub her back soothingly with my right hand.

"Did you know that Malakai means 'my angel' in Hebrew?" I ask her softly after a moment of not knowing what to say.

"Really?" she sniffles, looking up at me.

"Yeah, my friend Hayden once told me that. He's the son of Hades and his dad taught him how to read Greek and Hebrew" I say with a small laugh, and she lets out a small giggle.

"That makes a lot of sense, because right now you're my angel" she says softly before hugging me again. I feel my cheeks heat up slightly before I hug her back.

"And if you ask me, Chad is a dumb ass" I say seriously and Bella looks up at me again.

"If he's dumb enough to cheat on a beautiful,smart, funny girl like you then there has got to be something seriously wrong with him" I explain, and she blushes when she hears me call her beautiful.

"Especially when said girl is the soon to be queen of Auradon and is friends with the Dark Prince of the Isle Of The Lost and under his protection" I continue smugly, and she giggles.

"We're friends now?" she asks hopefully and I nod with a small laugh.

"Why not? It's clear we're going to be seeing a lot more of each other since we're going to be the leaders of two different lands" I say with a shrug and she smiles.

"Plus having some type of friendship is good if we are to create a peace treaty between Auradon and The Isle" I continue, bringing up one of the things we talked about after lunch yesterday. When I'd first heard of it I'd gone along with it half heartedly, but now that I'm possibly thinking of not going through with my mother's plan I am really starting to consider it.

"Yeah" she says softly, giving me a watery smile. I smile back and hug her gently, resting my chin on the top of her head.

"Hey" I say softly after a few minutes of rocking her back and forth on my lap.

"Hmm?" she hums against my neck.

"How about you and I do something after school?" I suggest, and she removes her head from my neck to look at me. Even with her hair looking messy, grass stains on her jeans and her shirt rumpled up, and her eyes red and puffy, she's still the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.

"Sure! What do you wanna do?" she asks excitedly, her face lighting up at the idea of hanging out.

"I am going to teach you how to have fun vk style" I say with a small smirk, and she nods enthusiastically.

"Cool" she says happily, but I don't miss the tear that slides down her cheek. I remove my hand from her back and gently wipe it off with my thumb.

"No more tears okay, those traitors aren't worth it" I say gently, cupping her cheek.

"Okay" she says softly.

"You're absolutely right Mal, but what am I gonna do about Audrey? I thought she was my friend" she says as she carefully gets off my lap and standing up, looking down at her feet after she does so.

"Between you and me I have no idea what you saw in her as a friend. I automatically didn't like her when I first got here" I say honestly as I stand up, wiping the grass off of my knees. She looks up at me and I hate the lost look in her eyes.

"Look at me" I order gently, cupping her cheek again and moving so my face is a few inches from hears. She looks right into my eyes and I notice little golden flecks swimming around in her eyes.

"You are a strong, beautiful, independant woman. Audrey and Chad don't deserve to have an amazing girl like you in their lives" I say gently but firmly. She smiles at me and I swear my heart skips a beat. I smile back and before I know it she's kissing me, and I'm kissing back. I wrap my arms around her and kiss her back eagerly for a few minutes before coming back to my senses. I pull away and she manages to steal one more soft gentle kiss.

"I-I'm sorry" she says apologetically, panting after our few minutes of passion.

"It's ok" I say softly, restraining my inner dragon from taking over so we'll kiss again. We get ourselves sorted out and I look at my watch, we have fifteen minutes until free perioud is over. I reach down and grab my sketchbook before wrapping my free arm around her shoulders.

"Is this okay?" I ask her gently as I begin to lead her off the tourney feild and towards the school.

"More than okay" she says back, leaning her head against me. I grin and lead her to the school enterance. I remove my arm from her shoulders and open the door for her.

"My what a gentleman" she says playfully, going inside.

"Why of course, the soon to be queen deserves the best" I say playfully, following her side.

"Oh there's nothing special about me, I'm sure you say that to all the girls" she says bashfully, and I'm proud to see a light blush coloring her cheeks.

"What other girls?" I ask cockily, leading her upstairs and to my locker. I open my locker and put my sketchbook and drawing pens and pencils back inside. I pull out my schedule and see that I have 'Heros And Villains History' next.

"I have that class too" Bella says from beside me, looking down at my schedule.

"Would...Would you like to walk with me?" she asks shyly, and I crack a small smile.

"I'd like that..and maybe if you don't already have a partner maybe we could sit together" I say softly and she grins, nodding enthusiastically.

"Yeah! I-I mean I don't have a partner so I'd love to sit with you" she says coolly, trying to hide her excitement. I give her a playful smirk before grabbing the necessary items I'll need for that class and closing my locker.

"It's settled then, lead the way partner" I say playfully with a wave of my hand.

"Yes sir" she giggles, and moves in front of me as she begins to do as I said. After a quick stop to her locker so she can grab her stuff we are standing in front of the classroom a few minutes early.

"Good girl" I whisper in her ear from behind her as I follow her into the empty classroom and over to a two person desk desk in the back of the room. As I move my head away from her ear I hear her let out a shakey breath and I laugh, hugging her with one arm from behind for a minute before moving from behind her to sit down in one of the two chairs. After a moment of her not moving to sit next to me I look up at her and see her looking down at me on surprise.

"Did I do something wrong?" I ask her, silently wondering if I'm in her seat.

"No not at all, I just wasn't expecting you to hug me" she says automatically before sitting next to me, scooting her chair closer to me as she grabs the two texts books on the table and gives me one.

"Thank you, but shouldn't that be my job?" I ask playfully as I take it. She smiles at me and I playfully nudge her with my shoulder. Students start flooding into the room and I feel Bella freeze next to me when she sees Audrey enter the room. My chest tightens when Bella looks at me so unsure of herself, and without a second thought I take her hand in mine under the desk. Bella looks at our joined hands as I entwine our fingers and give her hand a reasurring squeeze when she looks up at me. I smile at her and mouth _'It's gonna be ok'_ as I stroke the back of her hand with my thumb.

"Good afternoon class" the teacher says as she enters the room, Ms. Fauna if I remember correctly.

"Now today we are going to be going over the history of Sleeping Beauty and Maleficent" she announces, and that's when I remember she's one of the three faries that helped Aurora and Prince Phillip.

"Now can anybody tell me what they know about their story?" Fauna asks and I feel my free hand clench into a fist above the desk when Audrey raises her hand. Bella looks at me concerned and this time she's the one to rub the back of my hand with her thumb. _'Are you ok?'_ she mouths and I mouth back _'I don't know'_.

"Maleficent was an evil fairy that cursed my mother for no reason except she's an evil person" Audrey says proudly and I feel my fist begin to shake.

"Um Ms. Fauna may we please change the lesson today?" Bella asks while raising her free hand, shooting me a worried look.

"May I ask why Bella?" Fauna asks.

"I don't think it's fair to Mal to have to sit through a class listening to everyone bashing his mom when he aready knows what happened" Bella explains softly and everyone turns to look at me as if I have two heads, like I'm some sort of freak.

"Um actually Ms. Fauna may I say something?" I ask quietly, raising my hand.

"And what exactly would you like to say devil?" Audrey asks and Fauna shushes her.

"Go ahead dear" Fauna says.

"Once apon a time there was a young fairy named Maleficent" I begin and everyone's looks turn into ones of curiousity and wonder.

"She lived in a beautiful forest surrounded by other magical creatures. And one day she stumbled apon a young orphaned boy around her age who introduces himself as Stephen" I continue and Audrey's eyes widen as well as Fauna's, as if they didn't know any of this.

"She delivered him home and as the years went by they grew closer as friends, and not long after Maleficent began to fall for the poor young man and he for her" as I say this I begin to think of how my mother must have felt falling for someone so soon after meeting him, the same situation I am finding myself getting into the longer I stay here.

"After months of being distant Stephan pops back into Maleficent's life, saying he was in love with her and wanted to be with her..but that was only a lie" I say, sadness creeping it's way into my tone as I think of how hurt my mom must have been, having the love of her life betray her when she was my age.

"They spent a long happy night together reconnecting, and the next morning when Maleficent woke up she was horrified to see Stephen and her wings were gone, a burning pain on her back in their place" at this all of the students including Audrey wince and I swear I can see tears in Flaura's eyes. Out of the corner of my eye I see Bella looking at me as if she doesn't know what to think, like I'm some mystery to her.

"Maleficent cried for the loss of her wings, and for the hurt she felt from being betrayed by the one person she loved most in the world" I continue on, and everyone is looking at me with sadness and pity in their eyes, having never heard the story I'm sure they know well told this way.

"Soon after, the happy fairy found darkness and hate begin to grow in her heart. And the beautiful forest tansformed into a darm gloomy place called the moorse" I think back to the few times I've snuck away there, trying to picture it as the beautiful place my father had described but found it impossible.

"Not long after the transformation, Maleficent saved a crow trapped in a net from a barking dog and a man with a spear, by turning him into a man" I continue, smiling at the mention of my dad.

"The man introduced himself as Diaval, and in thanks for her saving his life he voluntered himself as her servent and became her wings" I continue on, and they all look at me in surprise at the mention of him, probably not knowing Maleficents crow could turn into a man.

"Months later Diaval reported that Stephan was married and had become king of the kingdom he was from, and it didn't take a genious for Maleficent to figure out why" I deadpan, and everyone gasps.

"Maleficent vowed to take revenge on the man she had once loved, and so when she heard of his new born baby daughter's christening did she put her plan into action. She wanted him to suffer like she had" I say, remembering all of the times I'd asked my father this story.

"After two of the three good fairies presented their gifts did she appear, and she cursed the baby by predicting that tthe girl would prick her finger on a spinning wheel on her sixteenth birthday and sleep for all of time" this is the part of the story I always hated growing up.

"And so Stephen ordered for all of the spinning wheels in the kingdom to be destroyed, and they all were except one" my heart grows heavy as I continue.

"And to be safe Stephen sent his baby girl Aurora to live with the three fairies, and the four of them remained in a cottage deep in the woods for sixteen years until the girl stumbled upon a handsome stranger named Phillip" I continue on.

"She fell in love with him at once, and they'd planned to meet somewhere but Phillip had been captured by Maleficent who had figured out where the girl was thanks to Diaval" Bella squeezes my hand and I smile slightly, not glancing at her but just knowing she is there is enough for me.

"She used her magic to lure Aurora to her castle in the moorse, and she pricked her finger on the spinning wheel that was hidden away in one of the rooms in a tower of the castle. Meanwhile Phillip was saved by the three fairies and he fought the enraged Maleficent who turned into a giant black dragon with green eyes, using the sword of truth and the shield the faries had bestowed upon him" my tone changes through out this part, building the suspense.

"Phillip lunged the sword of truth into Maleficent's chest, who then turned into smoke after releasing one last mighty roar" and everyone jumps when I let out a roar of my own, a beastly dragon roar.

"Phillip and the fairies race up to the tower and are horrified to see Aurora asleep on the bed in the room with the spinning wheel. And as the three fairies are mourning their Briar Rose, Phillip places one last kiss on his love's lips. And she slowly wakes up, because on her christening the third fairy had contradicted Maleficent's curse by blessing the girl to wake up by recieving true loves kiss" I say softly, stroking Bella's hand which is still hidden under our desk.

"After king beast married Belle he created the Isle Of The Lost and all of the villians and sidekicks alive and dead were given a life long sentance to rot there with nothing to eat or wear but Auradon's unwanted scraps and contaminated water to drink, and had Fairy Godmother put a barrier around it to cut the villians off from the outside world" I see everyone lower their heads in shame as I mention the state of the isle.

"Four years after the isle was created, Maleficent who had now become queen of the isle gave birth to a son she named Malakai. And though she and Diaval don't have feelings for each other beyond loyalty and friendship, they remain close for the sake of their son" and Bella looks at me in surprise at the fact that I mention my up bringing.

"And for sixteen years he grows up under his mother's lessons to be an evil and cruel person, preparing him to take his place as the king of the isle. Then one day he and his friends are invited to Auradon by the princess and she turns his whole world upside down" I say with a laugh, giving Bella a knowing look while she looks pleased with herself.

"Look I don't agree with the way my mom handled things with King Stephen, Aurora had nothing to do with what Stephen did to her" I adress the whole class, looking away from Bella.

"But I can also say that she had every right to be angry, and she should have delt with it another way" I say softly.

"So I would formily like to apologize to Audrey and her family for everything my parents, mostly my mother did to them. And I'd like to say that I hold no animosity towards them and I hope that gesture is returned..I had nothing to do with what happened between our parents and ber grandparents" I manage to get out before the bell rings. I quickly grab my stuff and exit the classroom, ignoring Bella's calls for me to come back and the shocked stares from the other students and Fauna.


	4. An Incredible Gift

**Mal's POV**

I continue rushing through the hallways until I make it to my locker. I scramble to open my locker and shove my stuff inside it and yanking out my art stuff.

 _'Why did I have to tell that story? What the hell is wrong with me'_ I ask myself while painful memories begin to overwhelm me as I sort out my locker. My mom whacking me on the back with her staff after I'd asked her about why she cursed Aurora when she'd had nothing to do with what happened between her and king Stephen when I was nine years old, starving for days at a time over the years just to make sure my three best friends had their stomachs filled every day. The worst one that replayed over and over in my mind was sitting in an ally with my back against a brick wall while it downpoured one night a few months ago when mom had beaten me for giving two little kids the loaf of bread and hunk of cheese I'd managed to steal. I remember it as if it'd happened yesterday, my heart had broke at the sight of them going through the silver metal trash cans that were across from the brick wall I was sitting against, about to take my first bite out of the bread. I lowered the bread away from my mouth before I could take a bite and stood up, removing the cloth covered cheese from my jacket pocket as I stood up. I remember the nervous look the little girl had given me as I slowly approached them and kneeled before them, holding out the bread to her and the cheese to who I assume was her little brother. It took a few seconds of encouraging words before they'd taken the food gratefully. The boy looked to be about six years old and the girl looked to be at least nine or ten years old. They'd smiled at me before trading little bits of their offerings with each other, and I had smiled as I watched them run off laughing and chatting about how they couldn't wait to tell l their mom about a stranger's moment of kindness. I remember hearing a bang behind me as I watched them disappear and when I'd turned my head to look at the source, I'd been struck on the side of my head and through my blurry vision I had managed to see my mom's angry green eyes looking back at me before she began beating me with her staff and letting me know how much I had disapointed her and how much of a discrace I was. Hours after the torture had ended, I remember how I'd managed to push myself off the ground and sit back against the wall, wincing in pain from the movement. The wounds including the broken ribs I'm sure I'd gotten had healed into bruises over my chest and back but the slight pain was still there. I remember seeing a broken piece of mirror beside me and picking it up, silently praying that my pain would end right then and there as I dragged it against my wrist. But it was not to be, the wounds were completely healed within seconds and the rain washed away the blood.

"Mal!" I hear Bella call out, snapping me out of my thoughts. I slam my locker shut and start walking back towards the dorms.

"Mal wait" Bella says, now a few steps behind me.

"Not now" I grunt, beginning to pick up my pace.

"Mal-" she says softly before grabbing my arm, stopping me from moving any further.

"Bella please, right now I need to be _alone_. I'll see you later" I say coldly, pulling my arm free and continue walking away from her. This time Bella doesn't try to stop me.

 **A Few Hours Later**

 **Bella's POV**

"You should've seen the look on his face Lonnie, he looked so lost and haunted by something and I've never felt so powerless" I whisper, looking down at my lap as that look in Mal's eyes replays in the back of my mind. Lonnie and I are currently in my room, sitting across from each other with a package of oreos and a open jar of peanut butter between us.

"I imagine that telling his mother's past to the whole class, including Ms. Fauna caused him a whirl wind of emotions" Lonnie says, and I look up to see her thinking hard about everything I had just told her.

"I know...I just wish there was a way I could make him feel better" I sigh, running my fingers through my hair.

"Maybe he just needs time to sort out his feelings, I mean I'd be pretty overwhelmed too if my life was changing so drastically in a matter of days" Lonnie tries to reason, and I internally wince as I admit to myself I'm the reason everything was changing for him.

"Do..do you think he blames me for that? I'm the reason they're here" I say quietly, feeling a pang in my heart at the thought of him, or any of them resenting me for my decision.

"No! Bella in the short time that they've been here I haven't seen any signs of resentment or even anger when he's around you. I'd even be willing to say that he's comfortable around you" Lonnie says comfortingly, reaching forward and putting her hand on my shoulder comfortingly. I think back to when he'd followed me to the bleachers earlier, and how he'd held me as I cried even though he barely knew me.

"You're right, but I've also noticed something about him" I say softly.

"What's that?" she asks curiously.

"He may be from the Isle Of The Lost, but there is a part of him that is good. I can feel it, and when I look into his eyes I can see that something is holding him back" I try to explain. Whenever I look into his eyes, I can see that he's not evil...just different. He's smart, loyal, independant, and so many other things that I'm sure are why his three friends look up to him the way they do. He's a protector, someone to depend on and the physical definition of everything I have ever wanted to be.

"You're right...when he sat with us at lunch yesterday I never felt uncomfortable and he seemed very at ease when he spoke to me" Lonnie says, letting go of my shoulder.

"Right! I know there's some good in him, I just wish he could see that" I sigh, running my fingers through my hair again.

"I'm sure he will, he just needs time" Lonnie says, and I nod in agreement.

"I hope so" I mumble, looking out the window next to me and see the dark clouds rolling closer and the rain pounding on the world outside.

 **A Few Days Later**

 **Mal's POV**

I start grabbing the materials I need for Heroes And Villains History when suddlenly I feel a hand on my arm.

"What?!" I snap, slamming my locker shut and turning to see whoever dared to disturb me. I freeze when I see Bella looking up at me with a hurt look in her eyes.

"I-I'm sorry" she stutters, letting go of my arm. She starts to move away from me when I instinctively grab her wrist and gently pull her back towards me. She looks at me confusedly and I smile apologetically.

"No I'm sorry, I shouldn't be snapping or taking my anger out on you when you've done nothing to me" I say softly, brushing my thumb over her wrist.

"It's ok" she says shyly, looking down at her feet.

"No it's not, I really am sorry" I say as I let go of her wrist. Before she can even begin to look up at me again, I wrap my free arm around her waist and hug her to me.

"Apology accepted, can we walk to class together now?" she asks hopefully.

"Of course" I say with a small smile before breaking our hug.

"But first, I have something for you" I say softly, carefully removing my sketchbook from under my arm.

"Hold these for a moment please" I say while holding out my other materials.

"Sure" she says softly, taking them from me.

 **Bella's POV**

"I feel bad about how I acted the other day, you were just trying to help and I shouldn't have gotten upset with you" he says apologetically while flipping through his sketchbook. I watch the pages curiously, internally feeling awed as I catch glimpses of very detailed drawings.

"So as an apology I made this for you" he says with a smile, finally finding the page he'd been looking for. This time I can't hold back my gasp as I stare down at the amazing art filling the page. It's my father's enchanted rose in it's golden case, surrounded by gold sparks. There's a beatiful black dragon with green eyes wrapped around the case protectively, gaurding the symbol of my parents love. Engraved in elegant black script on the gold trim on the bottom of the case is _'Tale As Old As Time, Song As Old As Ryme Beauty And The Beast'._ And written on the bottom right corner of the page in the same elegant script is _'I hope your tale becomes as timeless as your parents, I can't wait to watch it unfold. Best wishes- M'_. I feel tears gather in my eyes and I practically have to rip my eyes away from the beauty in front of me to look at it's creator.

 **Mal's POV**

I watch nervously as she looks at the gift I've made for her. I had looked at pictures of the enchanted rose for a few hours in the library just to be sure I had it memorized to the smallest detail. Finally after what feels like forever she looks up at me and I see tears in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, I-If you don't like it I understand-" I begin to say while lowering my gaze, my heart nearly breaking at the thought of it upsetting her.

"I love it!" she says before launchimg herself at my chest.

"It's beautiful, thank you so much" she mumbles into my chest before pulling away. I grin at her and carefully remove it from my sketchbook. I give it to her before closing my sketchbook and taking the rest of my stuff from her arms. She cradles the sketch to her chest and by the look in her eyes you'd think I'd just given her the world.

"You're welcome" I say with a soft smile before holding out my free arm for her. She loops her free arm in mine just in time for the warning bell to ring and I begin to escort her to class. We spent the short walk laughing and joking with each other. I stop laughing as soon as we're at the open doorway and I see three unmistakable faries in the room. Bella stops next to me and out of the corner of my eye I see her looking up at me in concern. But I don't take my eyes off the three women who are now staring right at me.

"Can we run?" I whisper to Bella, still frozen in my place.

"No, C'mon Mal it's gonna be ok" she says softly, gripping my upper arm and leading me to our table. We sit on our seats and set up our stuff on the table. Flaura, Fauna, and Mary Weather begin to move towards our table when the bell rings again, and students begin to flood into the room.

"Hey I'm right here, nothing bad is going to happen, I promise" Bella says softly, comfortingly putting her hand on my shoulder after seeing how tense I am.

"I believe you" I say softly, finally beginning to relax and she smiles brightly at me. I look over at her and smile back, noticing that she's placed my drawing in front of her and is stroking the little message I had written on the bottom of the page.

"I'm really glad you like it" I say, my smile widening.

"Like what?" a unfamiliar voice says from behind me and I jump, turning to see the three fairies standing next to my side of the table. I feel Bella squeeze my shoulder comfortingly and look up at the three of them nervously.

"Mal made something for me as an apology for a misunderstanding, I was just complimenting him for it" Bella says, and I can hear the underlying protectiveness in her tone. Flaura, Fauna, and Mary Weather look down at the table and the three of them gasp in harmony. I lower my gaze and look at the sketch, happy to see that Bella had covered my message for her with her hand. I was hoping she'd keep that from them. I smile at her and she gladly smiles back at me. I look back at our guests and see other students watching us from their tables.

"You should consider signing up for art classes Mr. Dival, you're quite talented" Mary Weather says kindly.

"It's _Diaval_ ma'am" I correct softly, and I see Flora and Fauna cover their mouths to hold back their laughter as their blue dressed friend blushes.

"My apologies" Mary Weather says, and I smile softly to show I hold no ill will.

"Apology accepted" I say with a small nod.

"We'd like to have a word with you after class if you wouldn't mind" Fauna says and I tense slightly.

"Not to worry dear, you're not in any trouble" Flora says soothingly and I relax.

"Ok" I say softly and I feel Bella remove her hand from my shoulder in favor of patting my back.

' _What could they possibly want to talk to me about?'_ I silently ask myself as the three of them go to the front of the room and begin the lesson.

 **A/N: Hey guys, sorry it's been so long since I've updated. I've written and rewritten this chapter so many times this past week I've lost count. Please leave a review and tell me your thoughts on this chapter, they're greatly appreciated and give me the motivation I need to update :)**


	5. A Serious Talk

**Mal's POV**

I spent the whole lesson on magical objects waiting nervously for the class to end. My leg wouldn't stop shaking and occasionally Bella would stroke the back of my hand with her thumb. She'd grabbed it from under the desk the moment the three faries had walked away from us to start class.

"I can stay if you'd like" she whispers to me after the bell rings. I try to speak but no words come out, so instead I just squeeze her hand and put it on my knee. I put my hand over hers and she smiles up at me. Seeing her smile instantly calms me, and for the first time in my life I feel peaceful and safe. I smile at her slightly and finally manage to find my words.

"No, I think I'll be ok" I say softly, beginning to pack up our stuff. This is my last class for the day but Bella still has one more class, gym.

"Are you sure?" she asks me and I nod.

"I'll meet you outside of the gym after it's over" I promise her.

"Okay" she says with a smile, and I grin at her. I walk her to the front of the room and wave at her when she turns back in the doorway to look at me. She waves back before disappearing into the crowd of students. I turn to look at the three women that are now observing me.

"You wanted to speak with me?" I say as I move to sit at the table in the front of the room.

"Yes dear, we just wanted to speak with you about the other day" Flora says, and I tense slightly.

"We were just wondering how you knew all that, we lived in the moorse before it turned dark" Fauna explains.

"My dad told me everything that happened after he met my mom, but my mother managed to brew a potion that showed me her memories" I explain to them. While most magic is blocked by the barrier there are some weak and innocent potions that can be used. They nod in understanding and I tap my foot slightly.

"That took a lot of guts, to say all of that to a whole class, including the daughter of the girl your mother cursed" Mary Weather says, and I wince at the mention of Audrey.

"I may not like her very much, but her mother deserved an apology for what my mom did to her" I explain.

"Why don't you like her?" Flora asks curiously and I gulp, unsure of how to explain it to them.

"Whatever you say won't leave this room dear" Fauna promises.

"She was very rude to me and my friends when we first got here and.." I cut myself off, unsure of whether or not I should tell them about Chad and Audrey.

"And what dear?" Flora asks encouragingly.

"That day I told my mother's past, Bella and I caught her making out with Chad" I explain, and they all gasp.

"Oh my" Flora says, her hands on her cheeks.

"We must tell king beast" Mary Weather says, and my eyes widen in alarm.

"No wait! Please don't tell him, I think Bella would rather tell him herself" I plead, and they all exchange a look.

"Alright dear, we won't tell him" Fauna says, and I hold back my sigh of relief.

"But we will be speaking about this to Aurora and Phillip, Audrey should know better than to hurt her friend like that" Flora says.

"Speaking of which, Phillip and Aurora want to meet you" Fauna says with a smile and I raise my eyebrow in confusion.

"They want to meet the young man that is the exact copy of how his mother used to be before she became evil" Mary Weather explains.

"I must admit though that you don't look that much like her, but you do have her eyes and her jaw" Flora says.

"I take after my dad, I look almost exactly like him" I laugh, before a wave of sadness hits me.

"Are you two very close?" Fauna asks gently.

"Me and my dad? Yeah, he's taken care me all my life" I say with a small smile, remembering all the times he took me to the best scavenging spots so mom wouldn't beat me, and to find me some food since I always put my friends hunger first.

"What about your mom?" Mary Weather asks and the other two give her a warning look when they see my face fall slightly.

"Let's just say my parents have different views on how to take care of a child" I say after a moment of silence. The bell rings and I let out a nervous cough before standing up.

"Now if that's all I must me going" I say as I pick up my stuff.

"But what about meeting Aurora and Phillip?" Flora asks as I begin to leave.

"I'm afraid I'll have to pass" I say as I quickly exit the room and make my way to my locker. I quickly put my stuff away before heading to the gym. I make it to the doorway and see Bella fencing with Lonnie. I smirk and lean against the cool metal while crossing my arms, ready to watch the show.

 **Bella's POV**

Lonnie swings her sword at me and I manage to duck before blocking her sword with mine. We continue our fight until Lonnie disarms me and sends my sword sliding across the floor. Suddenly we hear clapping and turn our heads to see Mal leaning against the doorway with an impressed look on his face.

"Not bad ladies" he calls out before picking up my sword and walking over to us.

"Good form Lonnie, Mulan should be proud" he congradulates and Lonnie smiles.

"Thanks Mal" she says with a grin.

"You're very welcome, it's good to know that at least some girls can defend themselves in Auradon" he says with a smirk.

"Do the girls on the isle defend themselves too?" Lonnie asks curiously.

"Hell yeah! Matter of fact I taught my friends Hari and Freddie how to fight" he says proudly.

"That's so cool!" Lonnie exclaims.

"Yeah and while I'm gone they're keeping an eye on the isle for me until I come home" he says with a grin.

"When are you becoming king?" I ask curiously.

"Um..about three or four weeks" he says after a moment of thinking.

"Really? That's when Bella becomes queen!" Lonnie exclaims excitedly, and Mal smiles at me as I put away my sword.

"Cool" he says with a grin. Out of the corner of my eye I see Lonnie looking between me and Mal.

"Well I'll see you guys later" Lonnie says before leaving the gym.

"So how did it go?" I ask curiously, stepping closer to him. He sighs and rubs the back of his neck as he avoids my gaze. I frown and move closer, wrapping my arms around his waist. He hugs me back andburies his face in my hair.

"Aurora and Phillip want to meet me" he mumbles into my hair. I look up at him in surprise and see nervousness in his eyes.

"Are you going to?" I ask gently.

"I really don't want to" he admits, looking away from me.

"Hey look at me" I order gently, putting my hand on his cheek and making him look at me.

"I am not going to let anything happen to you if that's what you are worried about" I say seriously, gently tugging on the back of his neck so his forehead presses against mine.

"But if it really bothers you that much then you don't have to meet them" I say softly, looking into his beautiful smokey grey eyes. He smiles down at me and suddenly we're both slowly leaning in and closing our eyes. Our lips meet and suddenly the world fades away around us. I kiss back eagerly and tangle my fingers in his hair.

"Mal" I pant against his lips as we break away for air after a few minutes of kissing heatedly.

"Yeah?" he pants before resting his forehead against mine.

"I-I've been thinking about this since our missunderstanding..would you maybe consider" I cut myself off, nervous to finish my sentance.

"Consider what?" he asks softly.

"Um..maybe going on a date with me?" I say shyly, feeling my cheeks heat up.

"Are you sure you're not from the isle? You're pretty bold for an Auradonian princess" he says playfully, giving me a small smirk. I giggle and he rubs his nose against my cheek.

"But to answer your question, I'd love to go on a date with you" he whispers into my ear before kissing my cheek. I smile widely and he smiles back before breaking our embrace.

"Now come on, I wanna go get my sketchbook from my locker" he says softly and I smile up at him, nodding my head.

 **The Next Day**

 **Mal's POV**

I nervously wait outside of Bella's dorm, our date is today and I have no idea where we're going. She's planned everything and I'm very curious about what she's come up with. I start to look down at the ground but snap my head up when the door opens. My jaw drops when I see her in the doorway. She's wearing a knee lenth royal blue dress that has two inch wide straps and agold ribbon around her waist and brown heeled boots. I snap out of my daze and manage to find my use of words.

"For the first time in my life I understand the difference between pretty and beautiful" I say stunned and her cheeks heat up as she smiles at me.

"thank you" she says shyly.

"I um..I already have everything set up but you'll have to drive" she stutters, gesturing to her outfit and I smile at her encouragingly.

"I don't know how, we don't have cars on the isle remember?" I say nervously.

"I hope you like bikes" she says with a playful smirk as she closes and locks her dorm door.

 _'Oh yeah'_ I think to myself as I wrap my arm around her shoulders and begin leading her out of the building.

 **30** **Minutes Later**

"Tell me something about you that you've never told anyone" Bella says from behind me as we walk across a long wooden bridge.

"Umm well my middle name is Bartholomew" I say awkwardly.

"Bartholomew" Bella repeats, and I can hear the amusement in her voice.

"Yep that's just my mom doing what she does best, being evil. Malakai Bartholomew Diaval" I say playfully and we both laugh.

"Mine's Floridia" Bella says and I crack a smile and let out a laugh.

"Hey it's better than Bartholomew" she whines, which causes me to laugh harder.

"Whatever helps you sleep at night sweetheart" I laugh. After a few minutes we make it to a beautiful lake in the forest

After a few minutes we make it to a beautiful lake in the forest, and there's stone ruins in front of the water that has a picnic spread out on it.

"Welcome to my secret hide out" Bella says as she leads me down to the ruins.

"Darn this place definitely makes my hide out look pathetic" I say amusedly.

"You have a hide out to?" she says curiously.

"Yeah back home on the isle I found an old abandoned apartment when I was seven, I fixed it up and that's where I live when I'm not staying with one of my parents" I answer.

"One of? Your parents aren't together?" she asks.

"No, they're just friends and they agreed it'd be too weird to try being in that sort of relationship. That's ok though, I'm lucky enough to know who both of my parents are" I say with a shrug as we reach the ruins.

"What do you mean?" she asks softly, tilting her head slightly as we sit down across from each other.

"Very few kids on the isle know who both of their parents are, the rest only know of one" I say with a sad smile, thinking about Evie,Jay and Carlos.

"So Evie,Jay and Carlos-" she starts to ask.

"Only know about one parent? Yeah" I say softly, and she looks down sadly.

"But enough about that, this is supposed to be a date remember?" I say with a smile, cupping her chin and tilting her head to look at me. She smiles bashfully and I stroke her cheek with my thumb.

"So um, what did you bring?" I ask nervously after I remove my hand.

"Oh ah well I brought sandwiches, jelly donuts,sweet tea,blue berries and strawberries" she says shyly as she unpacks the basket. I smile at her and take one of the jelly donuts.

"So is this your first time?" she asks after a few minutes.

"Um we don't really date much on the island, it's more like...gang activity" I explain, waving my hand slightly.

"No I mean is this your first time eating a jelly donut" she laughs aand I blush as I lick off the remaining sugar.

"Is it bad?" I ask, trying to fight off the urge to blush.

"No you just have a little something right here" she says softly before reaching up and wiping the sugar off the corner of my mouth.

"Oh" I laugh, and she smiles at me.

"Now I think we should go for a swim" she says before standing up.

"Uh what?" I say, slightly stunned.

"A swim, C'mon please" she pleads, and it takes everything in me to not give in.

"Oh ah that's ok, you go right on ahead. I'll just stay behind and try a strawberry, I've literally never had strawberries before" I say nervously as I take one of the red berries out of the bowls that was placed on top of the basket.

"Mmm" I say as I take a bite, my eyes widening slightly at the amazing taste.

"Don't eat them all" she laughs as she stands up and kicks off her sandles. I blush and look away as she takes off her dress. She reaches down and takes a strawberry for herself, and I blush when her lightly toned stomach is very close to my face. She's wearing a royal blue bikini top with little golden flecks on them and matching blue shorts.

"Have fun!" I call out as she begins walking away. She looks back at me and smiles before continuing to walk off. After a moment she reappears in my sight, but now she's on a little rock ledge.

"Are those little crowns on your shorts?" I call out playfully.

"Maybe" she calls out, and even from here I can see her grinning.

"ROAR" she yells and I can't hold back my laugh as she jumps off and dives into the water. Suddenly thoughts of my mother pop into my head and I close my eyes tightly, trying to fight them off.

"A million thoughts in my head, should I let my heart keep listening? Cause up 'til now I've walked the line, nothing lost but something missing" I begin to sing quietly as I open my eyes.

"I can't decide what's wrong, what's right, which way should I go?" I sing slightly louder as I stand up and memories of being on the isle and of being with Bella float around in my head. I lean against one of the stone pillars before I continue singing.

"Ah-oh, yeah if only I could read the signs in front of me I could find the way to who I'm meant to be, Ah-oh, if only, if only...if only" I sing the high notes perfectly.

"Every step, every word, with every hour I am falling in to something new, something brave,to someone I, I have never been" I can't help thinking about how much being in Auradon has changed me, how Bella has changed me. I'm definitely not the same guy I was that day Evie, Jay, Carlos and I were chosen to go to Auradon, the day this whole mess started.

"I can't decide what's wrong, what's right, which way should I go?" I continue to sing.

"If only I knew what my heart was telling me, don't know what I'm feeling, is this just a dream? Ah-oh, yeah if only I could read the signs in front of me I could find the way to who I'm meant to be ah-oh, if only

yeah" My voice gets a little louder as my emotions begin to take over.

"Am I crazy? Maybe we could happen, yeah, will you still be with me when the truth is out?" I feel tears prick my eyes as I think of Bella looking at me with betrayal in her eyes as I give my mother the want. I continue singing the rest of the song with these thoughts running in my head.

"If only" I finish singing. I look around and notice that Bella is nowhere in sight.

"Bella?" I call out, worry beginning to take over my thoughts.

"Bella!" I shout, and I hear my voice echo around the clearing.

 _'Oh gods, please tell me she didn't drown without me noticing'_ I pray as I scan the water. Without another thought I yank off my jacket and take a running start before diving into the water.


	6. Love Is In The Air

**Mal's POV**

I gasp as soon as I hit the water and struggle to keep my head above surface.

"Bella" I call out before my head goes under water. I kick my arms and legs as I lift my head above water again only for it to go back under. I begin to sink despite my desprate struggle and my vision starts to become blurry. I try calling out again as I continue to struggle but all I get is bubbles blowing around me and a mouth full of water. Suddenly something grabs my left arm and begins pulling me to the surface. As soon as my head is above the water I cough and through my blurry vision I see Bella pulling me to the shallow end of the water next to the ruins. As soon as my feet are able to touch the ground I walk over to the ruins and pull myself up before falling on to my back on the smooth floor, panting heavily.

"Are you ok?" Bella asks me concerned, and I turn my head to look at her.

"You scared me!" I cough out as I sit up.

"You can't swim?!" Bella asks me in disbelief after she shakes some water out of her hair.

"No" I say as I brush my bangs out of my eyes.

"You live on an island!" she exclaims.

"Yeah with a barrier around it remember?!" I huff, wiping my face with my hand.

"And you still tried to save me" she says softly, and I feel my anger fade away.

"Yeah" I say softly, before a bit of annoyance comes back.

"But do you thank me? No, all I get is soaking wet!" I huff, gesturing to my soaked to the bone black jeans and dark green T-shirt that are now sticking to me like a second skin, and my water logged black combat boots that still have water pouring out of them.

"And uh this fancy rock" she says quietly, gesturing to the round sparkling crystal rock I am just noticing she's been holding.

"It's yours, make a wish and throw it back into the lake" she says with a small smile as she gives it to me.

 _'I wish you'd stop trying to give me a heart attack'_ I think before tossing it back into the water. She looks down at where I tossed it sadly and my mood softens.

"Come here" I say softly as I stand up and bend down to wrap my arms around her waist. I lift her up and pull her out of the water and carry her over to the blue blanket that holds our picnic. I put her down on the soft material before walking over to my discarded jacket and picking it up. I walk back over to Bella and put my jacket over her shoulders, and as I do so I notice her shivering slightly. I sit directly in front of her and she looks up at me nervously, almost like she's expecting me to yell at her. I reach up and gently brush some hair away from her face, and she leans into my touch.

"I'm not mad at you, I was just worried" I say softly, pulling my hand away and putting it down on the blanket.

"Mal I um.." she starts to say before cutting herself off as she looks down at the ground shyly. I go to say something but she lifts her head back up after a few seconds.

"I think I'm falling in love with you!" she blurts out, and I freeze slightly.

"But..what about you? How do you feel about me?" she asks and I look away in embarassment, ashamed of what I'm about to say.

"I don't know what love feels like" I confess, and my heart skips a beat aa I wait to hear her reaction.

 _'There I said it_ ' I think to myself. I feel her cup my chin and she makes me look back at her.

"Maybe I can teach you" she says softly before leaning in and kissing me. I close my eyes and kiss back, wrapping my arms around her from under my jacket. We break the kiss and I open my eyes to see her smiling at me. I smile back before kissing her cheek. A realization hits me and my smile fades away.

"Well now we have a problem" I say seriously.

"What? What is it?" she asks me concerned.

"How are we going to break this to your parents?" I ask and she giggles before kissing my cheek. I smile at her before tickling her stomach.

"Mal!" she giggles, trying to squirm away from me.

"Stop" she whines in between giggles.

"Never!" I exclaim playfully before tickling her faster. She squeals before falling backwards and pulling me down with her. I land on top of her and continue to tickle her as she giggles and squirms, trying to escape my playful torture.

"I think I'm a pretty fast learner" I say with a smirk before leaning down and capturing her lips with mine.

 **A Few Hours Later**

 **Bella's POV**

"Okay spill" Lonnie says as I enter my dorm and lean against the closed door with a goofy smile on my face.

"Did he like the dress?" she asks eagerly.

"It was amazing, he was really sweet" I say as I sit next to her on my bed.

"And I think he loved the dress and the bathing suit, thanks for helping me get ready" I say happily, gesturing down at my outfit.

"So where'd you guys go? You never told me what you planned" she says curiously.

"I'm still not going to tell you, it's too special a place" I say playfully before taking a sip from my water bottle and she laughs.

"Alright fine, keep your special place between you and your lover" she says and I caugh, spitting water on to the rug.

"Lonnie!" I scold and she bursts out laughing at my expression.

"Okay one more question" she says in between giggles.

"What's that?" I ask curiously.

"Why are you wearing Mal's jacket?" she asks, and I feel my cheeks heat up as I realize I never gave it back to him after he walked me to my dorm.

 **Meanwhile**

 **Evie's POV**

I'm in the library trying to study for chemistry, but it's just not sinking in. I read over the four pages we need to read for homework but the words just aren't sinking in.

 _'This is hopeless'_ I think to myself sadly, silently pleading with the words to somehow make sense.

"Hello there" a familiar voice says, and I lift my head up to see who is speaking to me.

"Oh hi Doug" I say to my science partner with a small smile before focusing back on the book. Doug is the son of Dopey, one of the dwarfs that helped the girl my motjer can't stand, Snow White. He is a very nice guy, and he's very sweet to me. When he first introduced himself to me he cut himself off with a _'heigh ho'_.

"Hey are you ok?" he asks softly, and I hear him walk around the table and sit next to me.

"Oh yeah" I say with a small smile, trying my best to sound enthusiastic.

"No you're not, what's wrong?" he asks gently, putting his hand on my shoulder.

"I-I can't do this..we didn't learn about this stuff on the isle" I say sadly, burying my face in my hands with my elbows on the table. I let out a small sniffle as I feel tears prick my eyes.

"No Evie don't cry" he says softly, and I feel him wrap his arm around my shoulders comfortingly.

"I can help you, everything is gonna be alright" he says gently and I feel his warm breath against my ear.

 _'No it's not, soon you and all your friends and families will be our prisoners'_ I think to myself sadly. The four of us don't really want to steal the wand, but we don't have any other choice. If we don't and Maleficent and our parents somehow get off the isle, we will be the first ones they go after. And Mal already told us that he knows his mom would kill him right on the spot. I mentally shake these thoughts out of my head and look over at Doug who is looking at me innocently. He's a very cute guy.

"You..you'd do that for me?" I ask shocked and he smiles at me.

"Of course, that's what friends for" he says with a grin before sliding the book so it't in between us.

"Now tell me what exactly you're not understanding" he orders softly and I giggle at his attempt at being demanding and begin explaining my problem.

 **Meanwhile**

 **Carlos's POV**

I continue walking around the tourney feild sadly and out of the corner of my eye I see Jane approaching me.

"Hey Carlos" she calls out and I turn my head to give her a small smile.

"Hey Jane" I say sadly, remembering how I'd just humiliated myself on the field a few minutes ago.

"Are you ok? You got knocked down pretty hard" she asks concerned.

"Yeah I'm ok, don't worry I'm used to it" I say quietly, giving her a small smile. She frowns and I internally curse myself.

"Life on the isle was pretty rough huh?" she asks gently, and we begin walking around side by side.

"Yeah, let's just say it wasn't exactly easy and peaceful like it is here" I say, not wanting to go into full detail about how horrible the isle is. Suddenly I hear something running towards us and I turn my head to see a small furry brown creature running towards us.

"Ahhh!" I scream before running away towards the woods.

"Carlos?!" I hear Jane call out alarmed between my screams. I continue to run frantically and hear the angry pack animal bark repeatedly as it follows close behind. I run deep into the woods and spot a decent two trunk tree a little distance away. I run to it and climb about five feet up one of the trunks.

"No stop" I say terrified holding out my hand as the beast continues to bark at me.

"Carlos!" I hear Jane call out worriedly.

"Jane? Jane" I say as I see her begin to run towards me.

"Jane help me, this thing is a killer! It's gonna chase me down and rip out my throat. This is a vicious rabid pack animal" I say desperately as I point down at the dog.

"Hey who told you that?" Jane asks, holding one hand up towards me.

"My mother" I say in a 'duh' tone.

"Cruella?" she asks me surprised, lowering her hand.

"She's a dog expert, a dog yellerer" I say while nodding my head, continuing to cling to the tree for dear life. She giggles and I notice one detail I hadn't before in my paniced state.

"Why are you holding him? He's gonna attack you!" I exclaim, closing my eyes so I wouldn't see her get torn to shreds.

"Carlos you've never actually met a dog have you?" she asks gently.

"Of course not" I say quietly, opening my eyes to see the ball of fur totally content in her arms.

"Dude meet Carlos, Carlos this is Dude, he's the campus mutt" she introduces with a smile, and the dog looks up at me innocently while wagging it's tail.

"He doesn't look like a vicious rabid pack animal" I say as I cautiously begin climbing down the tree.

"Geez, you're a good boy aren't you?" I say softly as I move closer to get a better look. I warily reach out to pet him and his tail wags faster as I begin to pet him.

"Would you like to hold him" Jane asks gently and I nod. I wrap my arm around Dude and carefully lift him up, putting my other arm under him as soon as Jane no longer has a hold on him.

"Good boy" I say as I begin bouncing on my heels slightly.

"He likes you" Jane says as Dude begins to turn his head towards me and rub his nose against my chin.

"Not hard to see why though, you're incredible" she says shyly and I smile at her.

"Hey Jane would you maybe like to go hang out with me in my dorm? Mal is out and Jay is spending the night with the team, they're having a pizza party back at Aziz's dorm" I say shyly, hoping she'll say yes and not feeling bad about how I wasn't invited to the get together.

"Yes! I mean yeah that sounds like a lot of fun" she says with a smile.

"Great" I say enthusiastically and we begin walking back towards the school while making small talk about how our day was.


	7. An Old Friend

**Mal's POV**

After walking Bella to her dorm I decide to go out for some 'me time'. I stop back at my dorm and write a quick note to Jay and Carlos telling them not to worry about me and that I'll be back tonight. I walk outside and carefully sneak out to the woods behind the school. Once I know I'm far enough in the woods so I won't be seen I begin to feel my bones shift and after a few seconds I'm in bird form. I can turn into a raven just like my dad. I take a quick look around before flying high in the sky. As I fly above the school grounds I hear several students say things like _'Is that a raven?'_ and ' _I've never seen one of those birds up close'_. My senses are higher than a normal person's because I'm half faery, it also helps that both of my parents can turn into animals. I fly high above the cloud bank and continue to fly towards the isle. I want to check up on the isle and I want to see if my best friend is ok. I land on a rock a few feet away from the barrier by the docks. I sit there for a few minutes before he is finally my sight. He has his head down and his hands in the pockets of his red pirate jacket, my heart sinks when I see how depressed he looks. I know it's not Harry because he never looks anything other than confident. I let out a loud squawk and he lifts his head up and turns to look in my direction confusedly. Since there's no one else around I risk waving one of my wings at him and he smiles after realizing it's me.

"Hey Mally" he says with a grin as he walks onto the docksits on the dock in front of me. I let out a small squawk in greeting and hop on to a rock a little bit closer.

"I miss you" he says as he looks down at the water. I look down sadly and wish I could tell him I feel the same way. Thomas and I have been best friends since we were six, ever since I met him and Harriet we've been inseperable and I miss hanging out with them every day when I'm not with Evie, Jay, and Carlos.

"Don't forget about us ok?" he says, lifting his head up and giving me a small sad smile.

 _'Okay that's it!'_ I think to myself determindly. I fly behind a pile of boulders sticking above the water a few feet in front of where I'm perched and shift back into human form.

"Me forget? Never" I promise as I peak my head above the biggest bolder slightly and give him a small smile. Suddenly I hear foot steps approaching and duck back down.

"I'll come back and visit you soon, someone is coming" I say loud enough for him to hear before shifting back into bird form.

"Oi runt what're you doing?" Another familiar Scottish boy demands.

"N-nothing Harry just looking at boradon" Thomas stutters.

"Well knock it off and come with me, pops wants to have a word with you" Harry sneers and it takes all of my self control to keep from charging at the barrier to get to him. I stay there and listen to the two of them walk away before stretching my wings and flying off again, I've seen enough of this place for one day. I continue to just fly around until the sun starts to set. I go back to the spot where I origionally shifted and land on the ground. I shift back into human form and run my fingers through my wind blown hair as I begin walking back to the school. I sneak into the kitchen and grab a few apples and some strawberries before putting them on a plate and sitting down at the counter. Suddenly the metal door opens behind me and I turn to see Lonnie standing there with a relieved look on her face.

"Oh there you are Mal, we've been looking everywhere for you" Lonnie says relieved and I raise an eyebrow.

"We?" I ask confusedly, I left a note for the guys and I'm sure they told Evie about it. They know when to give me my space.

"Yeah, Bella was really worried. She went to your dorm earlier and Carlos explained that he hadn't seen you since this morning and you left a note. Bella and I have been looking for you ever since" she says quickly before taking a deep breath.

"Oh sorry, did you girls need something?" I say apologetically, feeling a bit bad that I caused so much concern.

"Oh I don't need anything, Bella just wanted to return your jacket" she says with a smile.

"Oh ok" I say understandingly before eating a stawberry.

"So where have you been anyway? No one's seen you around campus" Lonnie asks as she takes the seat next to me.

"No where special, I just needed to clear my head and went on a bit of a nature walk. I must have dozed off because I woke up sitting against a tree and it was sunset" I lie easily. Another perk of being from the isle of the lost, you can come up with very believable lies on the spot.

"Oh, well after you're done eating you should go see Bella. She'll be so relieved to know you're ok" Lonnie says with a smile before getting up. She starts walking away and I hear her pause in the doorway.

"Hey Mal?" Lonnie calls out.

"Yeah?" I say as I turn around and look at her.

"Could you..could you maybe figure out a spell that would make me pretty? I-it's just that I really like Jay and-" she begins to mumble shyly.

"I'll see what I can do" I say with a small smile and she grins at me.

"But for what it's worth I think he already likes you" I say and I see her blush slightly.

"Thanks Mal" she says happily.

"Anytime" I reply as she exits the room. I turn back towards the counter and pick up another strawberry.

"Maybe this whole being good thing isn't as hard as I thought" I say to myself as I study the red fruit before eating it. I quickly finish eating and make my way to the girls dorms wing. I stop in front of Bella's dorm and am about to open it when I hear quiet sobbing on the other side.

"Bella are you ok?" I ask gently as I knock on the door. Suddenly I hear quick steps moving towards me and the door is thrown open.

"Mal!" Bella exclaims before launching herself into my chest. I wrap my arms around her and sway us side to side slightly as she buries her face into my shirt.

"Where have you been? I was so worried" she mumbles as she picks her head up and looks at me.

"I'm sorry I scared you, I just went on a bit of a nature walk" I say soothingly before kissing her hair. She snuggles closer to me and I smile down at the angel in my arms. She lets out a small yawn and I laugh quietly.

"Alright come on beautiful, you need to sleep" I say softly before picking her up. She wraps her arms and legs around me while I hold her with one arm and enter the room. I close the door with my free hand before putting it on her back and carrying her to her bed. I pull back her covers before leaning down and lettimg her untangle herself from me. Once she's settled down on the bed I put her covers over her.

"Goodnight Bella" I whisper before kissing her forehead. I begin to stand up straight and she grabs my wrist before I can move too far.

"Please stay with me" she pleads.

"Alright, but just until you fall asleep" I say with a small smile. I walk around to the empty side of her bed. I lay on top of the royal blue comforter and wrap my left arm around her waist. She sighs in content and I bury my face in her hair, inhaling her sweet scent. She moves her left arm out from under the blanket and places it over mine. I close my eyes and feel her squeeze my hand slightly.

"I love you" she whispers softly, and I know she's about to fall fast asleep by the tiredness in her voice. I nuzzle her hair gently and enjoy the soft sound of her breathing.

"I love you too" I whisper, waiting to hear her response. The only reply I get is her soft snores and I smile. I carefully umtangle myself from her before kissing her forehead and quietly get off her bed. I smile down at her one last time before exiting her room. I make my way back to my dorm and I see Carlos looking a me as I enter the room.

"Went flying?" he asks with a small smile while I close the door.

"Yeah, I was starting to feel a bit cooped up" I say before striping down to my boxers and laying in my bed. I curl up under my blanket and Carlos does the same thing on his bed.

"Goodnight" he mumbles tiredly before letting out a yawn.

"Goodnight" I manage to say before falling asleep.

 **2 Weeks Later**

 **Mal's POV**

"I don't know about this Evie" I say nervously as I fix the light mint green button up shirt I'm wearing. Today is family day and all the students and their families are having a gathering in the grounds.

"Everything is going to be fine Mal, just try to have some fun" Evie says comfortingly as she puts a shiny emerald green tie around my neck and adjusts it. My hair is now pure black and is lightly jelled up. I lightly rub my fingers through it to give it a natural wave.

"I'll try" I say quietly. I'm really nervous Because I'll be meeting Bella's parents for the first time. And I know that the three good faries and Audrey's parents will definitely be there. I take a deep breath and follow Evie out of her dorm. We go get Jay and Carlos before going outside to the party. I gulp as I pass by the faires, thankfully unsceen by them.

"Mal!" I hear Bella call out. I turn and see her standing by a brick wall with her parents and a photographer. I smile and go to hug her when suddenly Queen Belle faints and King Adam catches her. I frown and look down slightly while I feel Bella wrap her arm around my waist. I wrap my arm around her shoulders and she smiles up at me. I smile down at her slightly and hear someone clear their throat. We both look up and see her parents staring at us.

"Oh um..it's a pleasure to meet you Sir" I say nervously, removing my arm from Bella's shoulders and holding it out to King to shake. He shakes it firmly and lets it go after a minute. I let my hand fall limp at my side and feel Bella squeeze my side reasurringly. I open my mouth to say something but get cut off when we hear several loud footsteps approaching. I turn around to look in the direction of the sound.

"Stop in the name of the king!" I hear a man shout and suddenly see about a dozen guards chasing a very familiar face.

"Tommy!" I shout, breaking away from Bella and moving towards him. He looks at me with wide eyes and a scared expression before racing into my waiting arms. He clings to me and I glare over his shoulder at the guards that are now standing about thirty feet away.

"I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't torment my friend" I grunt before breaking our hug.

"What the heck are you doing here?" I ask Thomas.

"I-I" he starts to stutter before looking back at the guards terrified.

"You know this young man Mr. Diaval?" Mary Weather asks, approaching with Flora and Fauna.

"Yes ma'am this is my best friend Thomas" I say respectfully before turning back to my friend. He looks like he's about to cry any second.

"M-my dad-" he starts to stay before Chad scoffs.

"Oh great another street rat in our territory" Chad hisses. I growl and send him a hateful glare. He flinches and looks down in fear.

"Tommy what's wrong?" I ask softly, putting my hand on his shoulder and squeezing it gently. He sniffles and I see a tear slide down his cheek.

"What did your dad do Tommy? I can't help you unless I know what's going on" I press gently, pleading with my eyes for him to let me in.

"H-He disowned me two w-weeks ago..he found out I'm gay" he sobs, and more tears slide down his cheeks. Several students and adults gasp, including Bella and her parents. I don't pay any attention and just pull him towards me, hugging him to my chest and allow him to cry into my shoulder.

"What the hell is Captain Hook doing here! And how is he so young!" an unfamiliar voice suddenly shouts from tbe crowd.


	8. Confrontation

**Mal's POV**

I lift my head off of Thomas's shoulder and look in the direction of where the voice came from. A boy around our age is making his was through the crowd while glaring at the crying boy in my arms. I glare back at him and stand in front of Thomas protectively. The boy has copper brown hair and is completely dressed in green.

"Who are you?!" I demand, slipping back into my role of the worst vk on the isle.

"Oh did I forget to introduce myself? How rude of me" the boy says, feigning innocence.

"I'm Peter, Peter Pan. Now get out of my way so I can get rid of the codfish" he growls, and I feel Thomas clutch at the back of my shirt in fear.

"I-I'm not-" Thomas starts to stutter as he slowly moves out from behind me and moves towards Peter with his hands up slightly in surrender.

"Shut up or I will cut out your tongue" Peter hisses and before I even have time to react he lunges and shoves Thomas onto the ground. I growl loudly and move to stand over Thomas protectively, glaring at the guy that dared to attack my first mate.

"Over my dead body" I say in a deep angry voice before letting green smoke surround me.

 **Jay's POV**

Everyone gasps when Mal is suddenly surrounded by green smoke and when it clears he is now in his normal vk outfit consisting of a tight black v-neck,black skinny jeans, and his combat boots. His dragon tattoo is poking out slightly from the v-shape over his chest and his bright green eyes glare daggers at Peter. That's when I realize this isn't my friend right now, this is Mal the fearless leader of the Isle Of The Lost.

"This is your only warning, back off now" Mal growls as he carefully moves to stand in front of Thomas, protecting him from any more blows. Lonnie begins moving away from me to try and stop this, but I grab her shoulder and shake my head when she looks at me confusedly. When Mal is like this it's best to stay out of his way. Out of the corner of my eye I see Evie and Carlos do the same thing with Jane and Bella.

"Get out of my way" Peter yells as he shoves at Mal's chest, big mistake. Mal lets out a deep inhuman growl and we all instinctively back up in fear. Mal shoves Peter back and soon they're glaring daggers at each other, it's going down.

 **Mal's POV**

"Why bother protecting him? He is a nothing just like everyone else from that trash pile" Peter hisses as he punches me in the mouth and I feel my bottom lip split slightly.

"The Isle may be a trash pile but it's _my_ trash pile, and I will continue to protect it and the people that live there until my very last breath" I grunt as I slam his back against the stone wall.

"And you're one to talk about being a nothing, who's the one that started all the beef between you and Captain Hook anyways?" I hiss, feeling my canines sharpen into fangs. His eyes widen in fear and he begins squirming in my grasp.

"Last I checked it was _you_ that cut off his hand and fed it to Tick Tock, what did you expect? For him to say _'Oh that's alright Pete'_ and sing Kumbaya? I know you're from Neverland but not even something as impossible as that would ever happen" I rant, and he looks down slightly. I feel someone grab my shoulder and turn to see Thomas looking at me worriedly.

"Mally stop, he's not worth it" he says pleadingly with tear tracks still damp on his cheeks, and I feel some of my anger melt away. I give him a nod before turning back to Peter to give him some parting words.

"And another thing, call one of my friends a nothing ever again and next time I won't let anyone stop me" I hiss into his ear and he nods up and down frantically. I let him go and let Thomas take my left arm and lead me back towards our friends.

"Look at the fag clinging to his boyfriend" Chad scoffs.

"Do you want to be next Chad? Because last I checked you were too much of a chicken the last time" I hiss and he looks down in embarassment of the shiner I gave him a few weeks ago and I hear several gasps.

"Thanks for defending me Mal, you didn't have to" Thomas mumbles as he lets go of my arm and looks down at his feet.

"Yeah I did, that's what best friends are for" I say with a playful smirk as I wrap my now free arm around his shoulders, and my eyes go from vibrant green back to their smokey grey color, and my fangs morph back into normal teeth. I look behind him and see everyone standing there in shock at what just happened.

"Anyways Tommy how's you-" I start to ask before hearing several gasps and see everyone pointing at something behind me. Before I can turn around I feel something sharp get impaled into the left side of my upper back and gasp when the burning starts,which only means one thing, iron. I fall to my knees and feel the burn begin to spread along my body.

"You bastard!" Thomas growls before carefully removing what ever it is out of my back. He drops it beside me and I see a dagger covered in my blood.

 **Thomas's POV**

I glare at the guy who just stabbed my friend and feel something in me snap. He can hurt me and taunt me all me wants but no one, _no one_ hurts my captain.

"That's it" I growl before running at him and tackling him to the ground, punching him in the face several times before he can react.

"My name is Thomas and I am the youngest son of Captain Hook and I am Mal's first mate" I growl from above him and this time it's my turn to have someone grab my shoulder.

"Tommy it's ok" Mal grunts as he tugs on my arm and I let him pull me off of the blood covered boy. I look at him and see his skin turning slightly red and his veins darkening along his porcline skin. The pained expression on his face makes me bite my bottom lip in worry as I wrap my arm around his waist and help him walk back towards the others when suddenly his knees buckle out from under him. He falls on to the ground on his hands and knees and I crouch down beside him immediately. A girl I don't know runs over to us and falls to her knees on the other side of him.

"Mal are you alright?" she says worriedly and he turns to give her a pained smile.

"Don't worry, I'll be alright Bella" he says reassuringly and I rub his right shoulder comfortingly, knowing what iron does to him.

 _'Wait, Bella? So this is the girl he tells me about in his letters'_ I think with a small smile that quickly disappears when he lets out a pained moan.

"Thomas help me get my shirt off" he gasps and I immediately comply, he never calls me Thomas unless it's something serious. Bella and I both gasp as we see his veins surrounding the wound color his back like tree roots among soil.

"W-What's happening to him?" Bella asks me tearfully and I look at her sympathetically, knowing she's probably feeling as powerless as I am.

"It's the iron, it burns faeries, don't worry he'll be fine in a moment" I say comfortingly, putting his shirt over the wound and mumble a quiet apology when he hisses in pain from the contact. After a minute or two he begins breathing calmly and I see the dark lines that are his veins disappear from view. I sigh in relief and remove the shirt and toss it to the ground. The stab wound is now just a pink line a few inches away from his shoulder blade and soon the mark will be comepletely gone as if it never happened.

"Gotta love that self healing" Mal laughs breathlessly as he begins to relax.

"Yeah" I laugh, feeling myself begin to calm down now that he isn't in danger. Suddenly Bella gasps and I see her staring at the two equal sized long parallel scars that run vertically down the his upper back and begin and inch or two below his shoulders.

"Want help getting up?" I ask Mal quickly, knowing this isn't the time or place to discuss what secret those scars are hiding.

"Yes please" he says immediately and I smile before slowly helping him stand up, but not letting him go comepletely just to be sure he won't lose his balance.

"Now we're even" I say playfully and he laughs before shaking his head at me.

"Nice take down by the way, I knew teaching you some self defense was a good idea" he praises and I blush at the compliment, my adrenaline rush disappearing and leaving me with my normal shy self.

"I-it was nothing" I stutter, looking at the ground.

" _That_ was definitely not nothing, I knew you had it in you to fight back, you just had to see it for yourself" he compliments as he and I laugh.

"Keep talking like that and I'll stab you me self" I say jokingly and we both burst out laughing.

 **Mal's POV**

"Oh my goodness Mr. Diaval are you alright?" Flora asks me frantically as she and her sisters join us.

"I'm fantastic now that I'm not being burned alive" I say as I shoot a glare at the boy that did that to me who is now sitting up and looking ashamed.

"Well don't worry Mal Peter will not go unpunished" Fairy Godmother says as she walks towards the boy and helps him up before leading him away, probably to the infirmary. I look over at Bella who is now sobbing in Lonnie's arms before giving Thomas a look, he nods understandingly and pats me on the back before walking to a spot not too far away. I shakily walk over to the two girls and open my arms for her. Bella sobs and lauches herself into my chest and wraps her arms around my waist. I just hug her close and whisper soothing words to her as I let her hold on to me for dear life.

"It's alright love, it's all over now" I murmur as I nuzzle my face into her shoulder.

"I-I was so scared...you looked so vulnurable-" she cuts herself off with a loud sob and instinctively I hold her closer.

"I'm alright now I promise" I say before kissing the top of her head, not caring about who's watching.

"Sweetie you gotta let go of me for a few minutes" I say gently, cupping her face in my hands and she looks up at me with tears in her eyes.

"Just for a moment I promise, I need to talk to Tommy and then I'll be all yours" I say and she sniffs before nodding her head. I give her one gentle peck on the lips before letting go of her face. She lets go of my waist and I smile and kiss her cheek before walking back over to Thomas who is patiently waiting about fifty feet away.

"So as I was saying before we were so rudely interrupted earlier, how are you and your sister doing Tommy?" I ask as I make it over to him, brushing some dirt off of my tattoo. It's a black dragon with a green eye that rests over my heart, very similar to the one I drew for Bella only it's in a fighting stance with it's paws out in front of it ready to strike.

"Which one? The annoying one or the bossy one?" he asks and I let out a big laugh as I wrap my left arm around his shoulder, feeling a slight pain in my chest as I do so.

"Tommy they're both like that, and you know I could care less about CJ so I obviously wanna know about Hari" I chuckle.

"Don't you mean your future wife?" he teases and I blush at the reminder.

"Shut up! Hades sake, why did she have to go through that stupid phase?" I whine and he laughs harder.

"Oh come on Mally it wasn't that bad" he gets out between giggles.

"You're not the one that spent hours almost every day listening to your entire wedding being planned out when you were nine for several weeks" I say with a pout and he buries his face into my shoulder to muffle his laughter, I also hear several other people in the crowd chuckle at my statement.

"She got over her crush on you eventually" he tries to say with a straight face, but I still see his lips twitch as he tries to hold back a grin.

"What is it with all these people on the Isle having a thing for me? First Harriet plans out our wedding when we were nine and she was ten, then you and I started dating when we were fifteen, and now CJ is obsessed with me" I exclaim dramatically, throwing my free hand up in the air before letting it fall back down to my side. I ignore the several gasps that I recieve at the end of that statement and continue my rant.

"And I'm pretty sure one of the Gaston twins has a low-key crush on me, and don't even get me started on their sisters! Seriously what is going on?!" I say, shuddering at the thought of the Giselle twins who are exactly like their father. Thomas just laughs and pats me on the back comfortingly.

"Well it could have something to do with you being the most attractive guy on the Isle Of The Lost" another familiar Scottish accent says, causing Thomas and I to both jump slightly in surprise. I turn my head to the right to see Harriet,Freddie, and Hayden approaching us.

"Geez Hari, give a guy a little warning before you sneak up on him. Don't scare me like that" I say playfully, putting my hand over my heart dramatically.

"Don't scare you? That's my speciality" she teases and I shake my head as a grin fights its way on to my face. Harriet has the same skin tone as her brothers and the same brown hair and silvery grey eyes. The only child of Hook that doesn't look like her siblings is CJ, she has long blonde hair, blue eyes, and pale skin that has a bit more color than mine.

"Well it's good to see some things never change, your humor certainly hasn't Miss Hook" I say amusedly and she laughs.

"It's a gift your highness and it's Captain Hook now if you don't mind" she says, playing along and my smile widens. She looks at Thomas sharply and he buries his face into my shoulder.

"Thomas James Everson Hook!" she shouts and I feel Thomas shake against me.

"How dare you run away and scare us like that! You had me so worried" she continues to shout and I hold up my hand warningly, only having my pointer finger up so she'll get the point to stop. She calms down immediatly and I focus back on the boy that is now crying into my shoulder again.


	9. A Trip Down Memory Lane

**Mal's POV**

"How are you guys even here? Is the barrier broken? Oh my god did our parents escape too?" I say frantically, beginning to freak out.

"No no! Your dad actually helped us" Harriet says hurriedly, giving me a reassuring smile. I sigh in relief, thank god our parents are still on the Isle.

"My dad?" I repeat, a grin spreading on my face.

"Yeah he found a spell that could send us anywhere a few weeks ago, and today he was finally able to complete it in time for your birthday. Thomas over here couldn't wait and used it before any of us could react" Freddie says while sending a scolding look to the Scottish boy in my arms and I cock my head to the side confusedly.

"But my birthday isn't until.." I trail off, wondering what the date is.

"Tommy what day is it?" I ask, looking down at the boy who is now looking up at me tearfully.

"J-June 9th" he stutters and my eyes widen in surprise.

"Oh wow" I say, stunned that I actually forgot about my own birthday.

"Happy birthday Mal!" Thomas,Harriet,Freddie, and Hayden exclaim with big smiles on their faces.

"You guys are the best! I guess it's just been so crazy here I lost track of my own birthday" I laugh and all my fellow vks join in.

"Speaking of which, how does it feel to be an old man?" Hayden teases.

"If being seventeen makes me an old man then you're a geezer, Mister first born on the Isle" I tease back and he playfully punches me on the shoulder.

"Haha very funny, so who'd you get into a fight with this time?" he asks, taking note of my now mostly healed split lip and the bloody shirt on the ground.

"Funny story actually, you guys just missed Tommy kick Peter Pan's arse" I say proudly, and said boy blushes before burying his face into my shoulder.

"Really? Great job baby brother" Harriet says impressed and he buries his face into my neck.

"Looks like he's back to his normal self" Freddie teases and I smile down at my loyal first mate.

"And I wouldn't have him any other way" I say gently, causing him to look up at me with happiness in his eyes.

"Really?" he asks shyly.

"Really, if I ever had to pick between you and Harry I'd choose you everytime in a heart beat" I say and he smiles widely.

"Thanks Mal" he says happily and I smile before pulling him into a bear hug.

"Your father is an idiot, you're perfect just the way you are" I whisper in his ear and I feel him shiver against me.

"So are you gay or something?" Chad sneers and I glare at him.

"I don't like using those type of labels for relationships, why does it matter if your partner is a guy or a girl?" I say defensively, breaking the hug but keeping my arm over his shoulders.

"Because it's wrong! It's absolutely disgusting" Chad exclaims and my eyes narrow.

"Why is it so wrong?! As long as the person you're with makes you happy it shouldn't matter if they're a guy or a girl!" I argue and several Auradonians look at me in surprise, as if they can't believe someone from the isle is saying this.

"He's right Chad, it doesn't matter" Lonnie says, and I smile at her. _'Thank you'_ I mouth to her. _'You're welcome'_ she mouths back.

"Besides a year and a half is a long time to get over those feelings" I say with a small smile, remembering how awkward it was the first few weeks of our relationship.

"You two were together for a year and a half?! Why am I just now hearing of this?!" Harriet exclaims and Thomas and I both laugh at her.

"The less witnesses the better" Thomas says darkly and I laugh harder as I summon a new T-shirt into my hands and put it on before wrapping my arm around his shoulders again.

"I knew there was a reason I liked you" I tease and he lets out a playful growl.

"Awww you're so cute, you're as intimidating as an angry kitten" I laugh, removing my arm from his shoulders as he pouts.

"You two are so cute together! I'm so glad you two are dating!" Freddie squeals and I stop laughing immediately.

"Uh...Freddie don't you remember? We broke up six months ago" Thomas says and Freddie looks at us surprised.

"Wait what?" she says confusedly, looking back and forth between us.

"You must be kidding...Freddie you were in the room when we explained we broke up because we thought we were better off as friends" I say, I can't believe she actually forgot.

"I thought you were just taking a break!" she gasps and out of the corner of my eye I see Thomas looking at the ground looking upset about something.

"What is it Tommy?" I ask gently, turning my whole body so I'm facing him.

"I-it's nothing" he says, refusing to look at me.

"Tommy if this about your dad-" I begin to say gently.

"It's not!" he snaps and I jump back in surprise, h's never shouted at me before.

"Then what is it?" I ask, my voice raised slightly.

"Forget it" he huffs and my eyes narrow, I've had it with his little temper problem.

"Thomas I understand you're in a bad mood but you will _not_ speak to me like that" I say warningly and his eyes widen at my tone.

"I-I" he stammers and tears gather in his eyes. My anger turns into concern and I stop glaring at him.

"What is it Tommy?" I ask softly, leaning in slightly.

""I'm still in love with you alright!" Thomas shouts at me and everyone goes silent. I stand there too stunned to speak for a moment when he suddenly grabs me by the collar of my white t-shirt and pulls me in for a hard kiss. He breaks it after a few seconds and I just look at him in stunned silence as he gets nervous and lets go of my shirt.

"I'm sorry Mally...I'm so sorry" he sobs before running off, and all I can do is watch him run away as I try to process what just happened. I stand there stiff as a board for a few minutes before Harriet slowly approaches me.

"Mal? Are you alright?" she asks me gently.

"I-I think I'm doing alright for a guy that just got a repeat of his first kiss" I say slowly, still not believing what just happened actually happened.

 _*Flashback Almost Two Years Ago*_

 _"Mal I need to tell you something" Thomas stutters and I look down at him in worry._

 _"What's wrong?" I ask gently as I lead him over to the red couch in the living room of my hideout. He sits down on one end of the couch and I sit a few inches away from him, my whole body turned to him as I sit Indian style._

 _"I-I" he starts as tears gather in his beautiful eyes and I feel my heart clench at the sight. I hate it when he's sad and not knowing how to help always makes me feel worse._

 _"Take your time" I say gently, taking his smaller left hand in my right hand. I've had a bit of a crush on him for a while now but I don't wanna screw up our friendship._

 _"M-Mally I'm gay" he whimpers and I look at him in surprise, doesn't he know I already knew that?_

 _"P-Please don't hate me" he sobs as he looks down at our joined hands and I feel my heart drop into my stomach._

 _"Tommy I could never hate you" I say gently, shaking my head at the idea of ever hating my best friend._

 _"And I already knew you're gay, I've known for years" I continue, squeezing his hand gently. He looks up at my face in shock and I wipe tears off of his right cheek with my free hand._

 _"Y-you did?" he stutters, looking at me hopefully._

 _"I always suspected it, but I figured it out for real three years ago" I say with a small laugh, stroking the back of his hand with my thumb._

 _"T-There's something else I need to tell you" he stammers and I give him an encouraging smile._

 _"Mal...Mal I.." he trails of with a frushtrated sigh._

 _"Damn it Mal I love you!" he says, grabbing the collar of my shirt roughly and pulling me in for a kiss. As soon as our lips touch I feel fireworks and all too soon the kiss ends. I slowly open my eyes not even remembering closing them only to see him looking at me sadly._

 _"I-I'm sorry Mally" he whimpers, beginning to move away but I stop him by gently grabbing the back of his neck. He looks at me confusedly but before he can say anything I pull him into another kiss. He kisses back immediately and moans against my lips as I release his hand in favor of turning his body towards mine and spreading his legs slightly so there's enough room for me to lay between them. I take my place on top of him and kiss him harder, which he gladly returns. I grip his hips roughly and he gasps against my lips, allowing me the perfect oportunity to slip my tongue in his mouth. He moans loudly and our tongues battle for dominance, which I immediately win._

 _"Mally" he pants as he breaks the kiss to catch his breath._

 _"Hmm?" I hum as I move my attention to his neck, giving it loving kisses and nips that make him shiver under me._

 _"Does this mean we're together now?" he moans loudly as I nip the tender flesh a bit harder. I lift my head back up to look down at him with a warm smile which he returns with longing in his eyes._

 _"If you'll have me" I say sweetly before leaning down and kissing him gently._

 _*End Flashback*_

I snap out of the memory just in time to see Bella approaching us with tears in her eyes.

"Bella I-" I get cut off my the stinging sensation on my cheek. I look down at her in shock and she glares at me as she lowers her hand.

"We're through!" she says before storming away. I just stand there not knowing what to say. Out of the corner of my eye I see Lonnie look at me sympathetically before running after Bella. I just stand there frozen, not even knowing how to react to the two bombs that just dropped on me.

"Mal?" I faintly hear Freddie say, but I feel like I'm underwater and can't find my way to the surface. I'm barely aware of what's happening around me. Bella is done with me, my _mate_ is done with me. And as if that wasn't bad enough my best friend/ex boyfriend is still in love with me and is most likely lost in this unknown area probably crying his eyes out over what he just did. After who knows how long I finally begin to feel less numb and my heart sinks as I realize that soon I'll have to choose between my mate and my first love. I love Bella like crazy but I've known Thomas for almost two thirds of my life and he was my first everything relationship wise. First kiss,first date...first time, you get the picture. Suddenly a wave of emotional pain floods through me and I fall to my knees. As soon as I hit the ground my walls burst too and I begin to let out pained sobs as tears slide down my cheeks, not even caring anymore about who's watching.

 _'I've screwed everything up...mom was right, love is weak and ridiculous'_ I think to myself as I begin to sob into my knees. I feel a light touch on my shoulder and I look up expecting to see Evie or Harriet, only to be completely stunned as Audrey looks down at me with concern and sympathy in her eyes.

"Are you okay?" she asks gently and I shake my head no, not trusting my voice at the moment.

"It's Tommy isn't it?" she asks, moving to sit next to me.

"W-Why are you being so nice to me? I thought you hated me" I manage to get out, looking at her confusedly. She sighs and I see her look down at her lap in shame.

"I miss judged you, all of you and I'm really sorry. And I hope that if you guys end up sticking around after Bella's coronation we can start over" she says apologetically as she turns to look at me, honesty swimming in her eyes.

"I'd like that" I say with a smallbsmike before looking back down at my knees.

"You know you still have to apologize to Bella for kissing that jerk" I say with a smirk as I turn my head slightly to look at her.

"I already did...I hugged her and was comforting her when you first got stabbed, I had just enough time to apologize before Lonnie came over" she says and I nod in understanding.

"I don't want to hurt them, I love them both so much" I say quietly. Before Bella I had gotten what I'm sure was a taste of what true love really was when I was with Thomas. But it's like being with Bella turned my spark into a camp fire.

"Audrey! Audrey get away from that hooligan!" I hear an old woman shout from the crowd and I frown slightly.

"I have to go...I'm sorry" she says apologetically, giving me a small smile.

"Me too...no hard feelings?" I say as I hold out my hand.

"No hard feelings" she agrees as she shakes my hand. She gets up and dusts herself off before beginning to walk away.

"Oh and Mal" she says, turning around too look at me again.

"Follow your instincts on who to choose" she says and I nod at her words. She smiles down at ne one more time before walking over to her parents and an older woman I'm assuming is her grandmother.

 _'Trust my instincts'_ I think to myself as I close my eyes, focusing on the one person I believe needs me the most right now. I hear several gasps before feeling myself fade away for a moment only to appear in a new location. I open my eyes and see that I'm in front of the school and faintly hear Thomas crying. I follow the sound and see him sitting with his back against King Beast's statue as he cries into his knees. Without another word I crouch down in front of him and gather him into my arms. He clings to me and sobs into my neck repeatedly as I just hold him closer and silently promise him and myself that everything is going to be okay.

 **Author's Note: I'd really like to thank MaliceMalAmyMalevFaery for helping me with this chapter and helping me plan out the next one. Just a heads up Chapter 10 will be a M/M lemon and I just wanted to make sure that I gave you guys fair warning before posting it. The next xhapter will hopefully be up some time tomorrow :)**


	10. Love Me Like You Do

**A/N: I highly recommend listening to Tanner Patrick's cover of Love Me Like You Do when reading this chapter. I was listening tonit on repeat as I wrote it :)**

 **Mal's POV**

"I'm sorry Mally" Thomas sobs for the hundredth time. I'm now sitting with my back against the statue and I have Thomas curled up on my lap with his face against my neck.

"Shhh it's alright, I've got you" I say in his ear soothingly, rubbing his back with my right hand and tightening my left arm around his waist.

"I screwed everything up for you" he sobs, and I feel his fingers play with the hair at the back of my neck.

"Not everything, I'm so sorry Tommy I should've known how you were feeling" I say apologetically, burying my face into his shoulder.

"I shouldn't have said it like that, I should've waited until we were alone" he says sadly, and on instinct I kiss just below his ear. I always did that when we were dating, it always calmed him when he was upset or scared. He shivers against me and snuggles closer. I hold him closer and close my eyes, pretending just for a moment that everything is fine.

"We can't stay here forever" he mumbles and I cup his face with both of my hands to make him look at me.

"Then let's get out of here" I say quietly, just now noticing how close our faces are. Our noses are close to brushing and if either of us moved we'd end up kissing.

"I'll follow you anywhere" he says breathlessly, and we both lean in slowly. Our lips crash against one another and we begin kissing frantically as if we were about to be torn apart. For several minutes we just sit there sucking each other's faces off. When we finally break apart for air our lips are swollen and we're both panting heavily. He leans in and begins kissing my neck, just like I did when we first kissed.

"Tommy" I groan, feeling him lightly nip at the sensitive skin. He doesn't bite hard enough to leave marks, he learned his lesson about who's in charge the last time he did that. I have to force myself to not give into the pleasure long enough to push his head away from my neck so I can look at him.

"C'mon" I say breathlessly, moving out from under him and taking his hand. We both stand up and I decide can't wait to walk all the way to my dorm so I can ravish him. Without another word I release a ball of green energy out of my free hand and create a portal. I pick him up and wrap his legs around my waist before running into the green vortex. The portal closes behind us and we're left all alone in my hideout. I pin Thomas to one of the the walls in my living room and begin kissing him frantically. He kisses back eagerly and I squeeze his hips, causing him to let out a loud moan. I buck my hips into his and he moans even louder as he feels my erection press against him, trying his best to meet me thrust for thrust.

"Mally" he moans after a particularly hard thrust.

"Mally please" he whimpers, trying to create more friction.

"Please what Tommy?" I ask before moving to kiss his neck eagerly.

"I need you" he moans as I bite his neck and suck on the tender flesh hard enough to leave a mark. I growl into his neck and he shudders against me. I carry him into my bedroom and throw him on to my bed. I manage to take off my boots and socks before he pulls me down on top of him and kisses me. I kiss back eagerly and begin thrusting against him again, letting my hands wander under his maroon T-shirt. He moans as my hands come in contact with his smooth skin and I trail my fingers up and down his sides.

"So beautiful" I say in his ear as I grab one of his legs and wrap it around my waist, bringing him closer to me. I reach down and unbutton his pants and undo the zipper. He bucks his hips into mine and I let out another growl as I thrust my hips against his roughly, wanting to take him so bad right now. He undoes my pants too and lets go of me so I can sit up and pull off his shirt and drop it to the ground. He wraps his arms around my shoulders and pulls me back down on top of him eagerly.

"Somebody's excited" I whisper in his ear before creating a trail of kisses down his neck, feeling his erection rub against my thigh.

"I need you" he whimpers, removing one hand from around my neck to pull on my pants to try getting them off me.

"Soon" I promise, taking his hand and pinning it to the bed. With my other hand I pull off my shirt and he lets out a whine as his eyes scan over my muscular chest longingly. I pull off his pants quickly before doing the same to my own. He looks up at me and I see that he's trying very hard not to jump me. I kiss him sweetly and he kisses back, tangeling his fingers in my hair as I hold myself up above him with my hands on either side of his head. We just lay there kissing each other sweetly for a few minutes before I let my hand wander to the waist line of his boxers and pull it down slightly. He pants against my lips as he tugs on my boxers too. After a moment of fumbling our last article of clothing is off and being tossed to the ground with the rest of our clothes. I begin to kiss down his chest and he watches me with hooded eyes as I kiss the inside of his thighs, avoiding the one spot that's begging for my attention.

"Mal" he moans as I kiss my way back up his smooth chest and neck until I can finally peck him on the lips. We kiss for a few seconds before I sit up enough so I can reach for my nightstand and get a condom from the drawer.

"Let me put it on" he moans, taking the wrapper from me and opening it with his teeth. He carefully puts the condom on me and throws the empty packet on to the night stand. I smile and kiss his cheek before rolling him on to his stomach. He gets on his hands and knees and arches himself towards me, and it takes all my self control to not just thrust right into him and pound him all night long.

"Are you ready?" I whisper in his ear seductively, and he answers me with a quick thrust backwards so he brushes against the head of my cock.

"Mmm" I moan before kissing the spot where his neck and shoulder meet.

"Please Mally please" he moans and I wrap my arms around him from behind before thrusting into him. He moans loudly as I begin to move in and out of him slowly, wanting him to get reaquainted with his other best friend.

"Mally...oh god faster please" he moans as I continue to torture his neck as I take him slowly. I remove my right arm from his waist in favor of playing with his little friend down south. He moans in pleasure as I continue to rub him in time with my thrusts. After a moment I become restless and begin thrusting into him faster and harder, earning more of his delicious moans.

"Ohhhh" he moans as I hit his sweet spot.

"You're tighter than I remember" I grunt as I begin to go faster.

"Well it has been over six months" he pants as I move in and out of him quickly.

"No one else has touched you?" I ask, feeling oddly proud that I'm the only one to make him feel this way.

"No only you" he whimpers as I begin to go harder, wanting to make him feel good.

"Good boy" I say before lightly tugging on his ear lobe with my teeth, making him hiss slightly. I let go of his cock in favor of holding his hips with both hands as I begin to fuck him into oblivion, determind to make him scream for me.

"Mal!" he moans as I continue to rut into him.

"Mal please can I cum? I need it so badly" he whimpers and I can tell he's getting close.

"Not yet sweetie" I say before pulling out of him, and he whines at the loss. I roll him on to his back before flipping us so he's straddling my lap with me sitting up againstvthe headboard.

"Ride me Tommy" I say breathlessly, I wanna see him when he comes undone. I guide his hips so he's right above me and we both moan as he sinks down on to me, filling us both with pleasure. He begins to slowly move up and down on me and I wrap my arms around his waist, keeping him in place. I thrust up into him, going deeper because of the new angle.

"Mal" he moans, wrapping his arms around my neck as he continues to ride me. I feel his muscles clench around me and I can tell he's trying so hard not to cum.

"Cum for me Tommy, let go" I whisper before kissing his jaw. As soon as I finish those words he lets out a scream of pleasure and finally releases, covering both our chests with his cum. His orgasm is the last push I needed to release myself and I moan as I fill up the condom that's separating us. We both cling to each other as we come down from our highs. After a moment I pull out of him and we both moan at the loss. I lay him down on his side before getting up and wetting a wash cloth in my joined bathroom. I clean off my chest before making my way back into the bedroom. I kiss Thomas on the forehead before cleaning up his chest. I quickly take care of the wash cloth before crawling back on to the bed and spooning Thomas from behind. I cover us both with my blanket and after a moment Thomas falls asleep and I kiss the back of his shoulder gently before joining him in the land of dreams.

I open my eyes only to see that it is night time, moonlight lighting up my room. I carefully remove my right arm from under Thomas' head and my left arm from around his waist before carefully getting out of bed. I slip on my boxers and some sweat pants before making my way to the kitchen. I turn on the lights and put water in the kettle before turning off the stove. I open one of the cabinets and take out a few tea bags and a few minutes later the kettle whistles. I turn off the stove and drop the tea bags into the kettle. After a minute I pour some tea into one of the few miss matched ones I have. I go intobtge fridge and luckliy there's a fresh carton of milk in there. The only good thing Auradon does for us is send us good milk and cheese, sometimes if we're lucky they send us bread that isn't stale and fruits that haven't started to go bad. I take out the carton and put a little milk in my tea before putting it back in the fridge. I put a little sugar in the tea too before stirring it and carry my mug over to the kitchen table. I sit down and slowly begin to sip my tea, enjoying the sound of silence. I hear quiet footsteps behind me and a few seconds later familiar arms wrap around my shoulders from behind, draping over my chest.

"Hey" Thomas says in my ear, his voice groggy from sleep.

"Hey" I say before turning my head slightly to kiss his cheek.

"Here, sit down and I'll make you some tea" I say softly as I get up from my seat.

"You don't have to-" he begins to protest as I move past him.

"I want to" I cut him off gently before kissing his cheek and grabbing another mug. I pour some tea into it and this time I just put in two spoonfulls of sugar and a little squeeze of honey. I stir it up and bring it over to the table. I see Thomas shifting in his seat uncomfortably and I smile apologetically before kissing his cheek as I place his tea in front of him. He smilesvat me as I move to sit across from him and take a sip from my own mug. Thomas takes a sip out his own and looks up at me in surprise as he swallows it.

"You remembered" he says, looking between me and the mug he's holding.

 **Evie's POV**

"Of course, I remember everything you tell me Tommy" Mal say before taking a sip of his tea. Harriet,Freddie,Hayden,Jay,Carlos and I have been worried about our boys ever since Mal disappeared before our eyes at the party. The boys and I got permission from King Beastvand Queen Belle for Harriet,Hayden,and Freddie to stay in Auradon. And a few minutes ago I finally remembered my mother's magic mirror and pulled it out to find Mal and Thomas.

"Really?" Thomas asks, cocking his head to the side curiously and I smile at how adorable he looks. They're both sitting at Mal's kitchen table drinking tea in their sweat pants.

"Of course, you're my best friend Tommy and I'd never forget you" Mal says causing Harriet,Freddie and me to 'awww' at how adorable they are while the boys roll their eyes.

"What are we gonna do?" Thomas asks quietly and we all straighten up immediately.

"I don't know anymore" Mal sighs as he runs his fingers through his hair, creating a purple streak that runs through it like a mohawk.

"Everything's such a mess right now" he continues, and for a moment the stress on his face makes him look so much older than seventeen. Thomas looks down in shame and Mal looks up with regret on his face for saying that.

"I don't blame you Thomas" Mal says and Thomas looks back up at him sadly.

"You should...this is all my fault" he says sadly and I see tears gather in his eyes before he looks down at his lap. Mal reaches out his free hand and places it over Thomas' who looks up at him tearfully.

"There there, we'll figure something out" Mal promises, patting Thomas' hand. That's the last thing we see before their image disappears, leaving our own reflections in it's place.

"Guys...what if they never come back?" Carlos asks and we all exchange a look, knowing that that could possibly happen.

"They'll come back...they have to" I say, trying to remain optomistic.

 _'Please come back Mal, we all need you'_ I think to myself as I put down the mirror.


	11. A Night Out

**Mal's POV**

"Alright now enough of us being depressed!" I say cheerily, standing up. Thomas looks up at me curiously and I grin down at him.

"The night's still young, we're going out!" I announce and his eyes widen in surprise.

"But we can't have anyone find out you're on the Isle" he says confusedly and I frown for a second. Then an idea pops into my head and I snap my fingers.

"Then I guess you'll have to go out with your new crush" I say with a smirk and he looks at me confusedly. Without another word I race into my room and go over to my closet. I pull a wooden box off the top shelf and place it on my bed.

"What are you looking for?" Thomas asks curiously as I rummage through the vials filled with colorful liquid in the box.

"This" I say as I pull out a vial with a transparent light blue potion inside labeled as _'Different Appearance Spell'_ and hold it up for him to see. He looks at it in confusion before understanding washes over his face.

"Do you have an antidote?" he asks and I shake my head.

"No but I don't mind waiting for it to wear off" I say as I uncap the vial.

"But-" he begins to protest but I quickly swallow the blue drink. I close my eyes and feel the potion begin to take affect. I hear Thomas let out a little gasp of shock and after a moment I open my eyes only to see I'm now a few inches smaller than him. I smile up at his star struck appearance and he just stares back at me.

"How do I look?" I ask and my eyes widen in surprise at my now British accent. He doesn't say a word and just points behind me at the mirror on the wall. I turn around and grin at my reflection. I now have tan skin that's a little darker than Thomas' and I have blue/green eyes. I also have light brown hair that's slightly shaggy and I am now about 5'6 rather than my normal height of 6'4 and my tattoo is gone. **(Think of 17-18 year old Louis Tomlinson)**

"Perfect" I say to myself, nodding in approval.

"Now if I remember correctly we saved some of our old clothes in here" I say as I walk across the room to my walk in closet. I turn on the light and after a moment I find an old pair of light wash jeans and some beat up white sneakers. I also find a white T-shirt with black horizontal stripes and a old dark jean jacket. I quickly get changed and luckily everything fits me perfectly. To top it off I put on a grey beanie and some old black framed glasses with red tape in between the eyes that Hayden used to wear.

"What do you think?" I ask curiously as I step out of the closet. Thomas is now fully dressed and his eyes widen as he takes in my appearance.

"You...don't look like you" he says and I laugh amusedly.

"That's the idea silly" I say playfully before turning off the lights.

"C'mon let's go" I say, taking his hand and leading him out of the hideout.

"Where are we going?" he asks as I drag him along the dark streets.

"We need to relax, so I figured we'd go to our favorite bar and enjoy ourselves" I say as the neon lights for _'Hades Underworld Tavern'_ come into view. Thomas grins at me excitedly and I smile up at him for a second before letting go of his hand. He looks at our hands confusedly and I nod my head in the direction of the bar, hoping he'll understand I don't want us getting any unwanted attention. A look of understanding washes over his face and he nods his head. We walk down the few steps to the door and slip inside the crowded club. I grab his wrist from behind me and lead him through the sea of dancing and grinding teenagers to the bar before letting him go. We sit next to each other on stools in front of the bar and just admire our surroundings.

"Would you like a drink? I ask with my voice raised slightly so he can hear me over the loud music.

"Yes please!" he calls back and I tap my fist against the wood counter to get the bar tenders attention.

"Two _Happily Ever Afters_ " I say gruffly and the guy nods before getting to work on our drinks. After a moment two tall glasses filled with foaming neon green liquid and a slice of lime on the rim of the glasses. I reach into my pocket and toss a few coins on the counter. The bar tender nods his head and takes the money before walking off.

"Cheers" I say, holding up my glass and Thomas clinks his against mine. We both take a gulp of our drinks before putting our glasses on the table. The drink is fizzy and tastes like green apples, it's sweet and sour.

 _'We shouldn't be doing this, let's go back to mate'_ Kal whines and I internally roll my eyes.

' _She's done with us Kalcifer, shevdoesn't want us and we need to move on'_ I tell him, shakimg the memory of her slapping me out of my head.

 _'But I love her'_ he says desperately.

 _'If you love her you'd want her to be happy and accept her choice. You'd let her go'_ I say and he shuts up. I know I love Bella but at the same time I respect her wishes and I also need to focus on my own happiness, not Kal's.

" I forgot how good these are" I hear Thomas giggle, snapping me out of my thoughts. I turn to look at him to see he's holding his now almost half full glass and I reach out and hold his glass before he can take another sip.

"Easy there slugger, we have all night" I chuckle, lowering his glass back on to the counter before taking a small sip out of my still mostly full glass. Thomas is a bit of a light weight when it comes to drinking, as for me it takes quite a few drinks to get buzzed.

"Well well well who do we have here?" I hear from behind me and I turn slightly to see Harry and Gil standing there staring at me.

"Shouldn't you two be off with shrimpy?" Thomas scoffs and I bite the inside of my cheek to hold back a laugh.

"Uriah is handling some business now answer my question twerp, who is this nerd?" Harry snarls and I glare at him.

"This nerd can speak for himself" I say hardly and he looks at me in surprise.

"The name's Eli, I'm Mal's half brother" I say and Harry laughs.

"You? There's no way you're a son of Maleficent" he scoffs.

"I never said I was Maleficent's son" I say and his eyes widen.

"Maleficent didn't want me to get in the way of her training Mal, so when we were children she arranged for some of her followers to raise me in The Moors" I say hardly, feeling proud that I can still come up with lies so easily.

"Whatever, just stay out of our way weakling" he says warningly and I growl.

"I am the brother of _Mal Diaval_ " I say, slowly rising out of my seat.

"I am the brother of your _king_ , I wasn't born to follow you or anyone else" I say, shoving Harry back slightly, earning the stare of a few people close by. Harry just stands there for a moment looking at me as if I was a puzzle.

"Kid's got balls I'll give him that" Harry grumbles to Thomas before walking off, and Gil gives me a small smile before hurrying to catch up to Harry. I turn around and sit back in my seat before smiling at Thomas who is looking at me with amazement in his eyes.

"Now where were we?" I ask playfully before taking a sip of my drink.

"You are amazing" he says, not taking his eyes off me.

"Why thank you, you're not so bad yourself" I say before taking a big gulp, my glass now almost half full. Another thing about Thomas is that when he's drunk he gets giggly and flirtatious, it's so cute and endearing that I used to take him here every few weeks after we turned sixteen just to see him so relaxed and care free. He fixes his gaze on to my lips and I smirk playfully before leaning in to kiss him. He kisses back eagerly and wraps his arms around my waist. I wrap my arms around his neck and play with the hair on the back of his neck.

"Would you like to dance?" I pant, leaning my forehead against his.

"Hell yeah" he says breathlessly and I have just enough time to take a few more gulps of my drink before he pulls me on to the dance floor. He wraps his arms around me again and begins kissing my neck as he grinds againt me.

"You're very forward when you're drunk" I muse as he turns me around and holds on to my hips as he grinds against me.

"It's called confidence juice for a reason he says huskily in my ear before beginning to kiss my neck again.

"Mmmh well keep it up and I won't be able to keep my hands off of you when I change back" I say while bucking my hips back against him, feeling his little soldier rocking into me eagerly.

"What's stopping you from putting your hands on me now?" he asks against my neck.

"You're in charge tonight" I say huskily, turning around in his arms and kissing his neck as I begin to hump his leg.

"Mmmh" he moans, pulling me closer and lifting me off the ground with one arm. I wrap my legs around his waist and feel him continue to rock against me as he brushs my bangs away from my eyes. I pant heavily as he continues to rut against me, feeling my body get hot as he continues to kiss his way up and down my throat.

"Bathroom _now_ " he growls, carrying me over to the doors of the said location. I blink repeatedly, getting used to not being near the dark room with the colorful flashing lights. The door slams shut behind us and he locks the door before pinning me against the wall with his lips attacking mine furiously. I kiss back hungrily and he begins pulling off his jacket and tugging off his shirt in between kisses. He quickly pulls off my jacket, shirt,and beanie and tosses them on to the growing pile of clothes. I take off the glasses and toss them on to the sink before crashing my lips against his. He moves us so my back is against the wall and begins grinding into me roughly.

"Are you sure you want this?" he pants, pulling back so our foreheads are pressed together and his silver grey eyes look into mine, and I can see his natural innocence clouded slightly by lust.

"I'm sure" I say before pecking him on the lips. I am a bit nervous about letting him top me for a change, but tonight is about him and I'm willing to do anything to make him happy. He kisses back sweetly and I play with his hair, loving how soft it is.

"And if it's something we both enjoy maybe we could try it again some other time when I'm myself" I pant as he begins fiddling with our pants, and as soon as I say that he quickly finishes stripping us and has me pinned between him and the wall again.

"Shit we don't have a condom!" he growls in frushtration, burying his face into my neck.

"Don't need one" I say as I cup his cheek and kiss him.

"Are you sure?" he pants after the kiss breaks and I see excitement in his eyes.

"Hurry up and fuck me or you're not getting any for a while" I threaten, not really meaning it. His eyes widen in surprise and he unwraps his left arm from my waist. He sucks on his fingers for a moment before pulling them out of his mouth, revealing them to be slick from his saliva. He cautiously sticks one into me and I moan slightly in discomfort. After he feels my muscles reacts he adds another one and after a moment I'm a moaning mess as he teases me with three fingers.

"Enough...I'm ready" I pant and he removes his fingers. He presses his lips against mine gently before he slowly thrusts into me, swallowing the loud moan that escapes my lips.

"I love you" he whispers against my lips as he begins to rock into me gently.

"I love you" I pant and he smiles widely. I don't say those three words often enough and I silently promise myself that I'm going to change that. He begins to thrust harder and the slight pain I felt begins turning into pleasure.

"Mmmh" I moan as he continues rocking into me, his fingers digging into my hips.

"Tommy" I moan as I pull on his hair slightly, making him groan gently.

"Tommy more" I pant as I try to thrust up against him, only to be held in place my his hands. I whine and he begins going harder and a bit faster. My moans keep encouraging him until finally he's plowing into me hard and fast like I did to him earlier.

"Tommy!" I exclaim as he hits my sweet spot while he kisses and nips on my neck. He continues to hit it repeatedly and I moan like an animal in heat as I get closer to releasing.

"Thomas!" I shout as my cum squirts on to his chest and he moans before thrusting into me even harder, close to release himself. After a few thrusts he bites my neck hard and releases into me. I moan as he begins filling me up and hold him close, feeling like I'll melt into goo the second he lets me go. We stay like that for a few minutes as we work to get our breathing under control. He slides out of me and helps me stand up on my own.

"That was..." he says breathlessly, gathering paper towels and wetting them in the sink to clean us up.

"Yeah" I pant as I take one of the towels from him and begin cleaning myself up. After we're completely cleaned up we get dressed and help each other get our hair looking neat again.

"You okay?" he asks softly, holding my glasses out to me as I put the beanie back on my head.

"Yeah...just a bit sore" I say with a little wince as I take the glasses and put them on.

"I'm sorry" he says apologetically, frowning at me.

"It's okay, I can handle it" I say with a small smile as I get on my tip toes and kiss his cheek. He grins down at me and takes my hand as he unlocks the door. We exit the bathroom and I wince when the blaring music is no longer muffled.

"Let's go back to the bar!" I hear him call over the music as he leads me over to said area. He helps me sit down before sitting in the stool next to me. We order two more _Happily Ever Afters_ and just sit at the bar flirting and laughing for a few hours, not paying attention to the roudy hormonal teenagers around us.

 **A/N: Hey guys, so sorry I haven't updated for a few days. The 10th was my birthday and to celebrate I went to see The Death Cure and I honestly cried like a baby when it was over, and some time in the next few days I'll probably post a one-shot based on my favorite scene.**


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